Three's Company
by Mullach21
Summary: Sequel to Unintentional Dating. Sokka, after returning home from the festival in the Fire Nation, is finding himself becoming bored and frustrated. On a spur of the moment, Sokka decides that he'll visit Toph. Everything was going to be great, until he realised he would have to also spend time with a certain engineer, Satoru.
1. Chapter 1

"It was an honour to care for the Avatar's bison," a fire nation guard told Aang as he handed him the reins. Aang laughed as Appa nuzzled into the surprised guard.

"Seems he likes you," Aang said through the laugh as he lightly tugged at the reins for Appa to follow him. He walked back to the rest of the gang waiting for him outside the Royal Palace. Toph stood slightly away from the rest of them as they exchanged goodbyes. Aang let go of Appa as he strode over to Toph, arms wide open. He felt like a brick wall hit him in the chest as Toph's hand shot out and stopped him.

"You know I'm not one for hugs Twinkle Toes," Toph said, keeping Aang at arm's length. Aang smiled as he dropped his arms to his side.

"I still don't get why you won't take a lift back on Appa," Aang said, as Appa lumbered up behind them.

"No offense to Fuzzball here, but I like being able to see while travelling, and I can do that on those metal ships," Toph explained as she reached out and rubbed the sky bison, getting a smirk from Aang. "You know what I mean. Zuko has already got a ship at the harbour for me anyway. Apparently I'll have VIP status, about time if you ask me." Aang dropped his head as he laughed.

"I'll make sure to get some extra padding on Appa's saddle just for you," Aang told her, "I guess I'll see you whenever." He stuck his hand out to Toph, who simply rolled her eyes as she reluctantly wrapped a single arm around Aang and pulled him in a hug. "See ya Toph," Aang said as he broke the hug, walking towards the rest of the group. "Watch were those hands go Fire Lord," Aang warned as Katara and Zuko hugged each other.

"I'd be more worried what Katara would do to me than you," Zuko stated as he let go, getting a laugh from the rest of them.

"Sokka's going blue, Ty Lee I think that's long enough," Suki said, standing with her arms crossed as Ty Lee kept her arms around Sokka's neck.

"Sorry, he's just really cuddly," Ty Lee apologised as she allowed him breath again, winking at Suki.

"Oh I certainly know how cuddly he can be," Suki joked as she took his hand and walked him a bit away from the group.

"Everything okay?" Sokka asked as she stopped.

"Yeah, just wanted to not have them all around us for a moment," Suki said, grinning up at him as she stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his neck and his around her waist. "Make sure you come back soon, I missed you."

"Of course you did, although I'm sure you'd want me gone in a week if I stayed any longer," Sokka whispered as he leaned in and kissed her. Sokka glanced up as they kissed and spotted the sideways glances and little smirks on his friends' faces. He was about to go back to focusing on Suki when something odd caught his eye. Toph was staring directly over at them, an unusual expression on her face. _Did I forget say goodbye to her?_ Sokka asked himself as he felt Suki gently push him back.

"You should probably get going, Katara and Aang are waiting on you," Suki said, motioning towards the two of them on top of Appa.

"They'll have to wait, I need to say bye to one last person," Sokka muttered, looking over Suki's shoulder at Toph. "I'll make sure to set something up for us soon." Sokka gave her a quick peck on her lips. He started walking towards Toph, who quickly looked away as soon as she felt him take a step in her direction.

"So you're not heading back with us?" Sokka asked as he reached her.

"Nope, the longer I spend away from the lily-livers the better," Toph said, glancing back at him.

"Don't want to hang out with us? It'll be like old times. Can't remember the last time the four of us were just flying around on Appa," Sokka suggested. Toph smirked at him.

"This week had made me remember how annoying you all can be, I'll probably be happy to get away from the lot of you," Toph joked. "Have fun being forced to listen to Aang and Katara being little love birds." Sokka raised his eyebrow at Toph, but didn't respond. "Think that just because-" Toph was cut short as Sokka moved forward with surprising speed and she found herself pressed against his chest. Her mind raced as that annoying shiver that Sokka seemed to always cause went up her spine and through the rest of her body.

"A silver piece says Toph punches him in the stomach," Katara muttered to Aang, who gave a short nod. However Toph was more focused on the muscular chest and arms that now surrounded her. Sokka couldn't help but smile as he felt Toph relax against him and her hands move up along his back.

"Fine... I'll miss you Snoozles," Toph admitted as she leaned into him some more. They stayed that way for a few seconds, until Toph remembered that their friends were watching. "Alright, that's enough hugging for me Meathead," Toph told him, pushing him away. Sokka let out an embarrassed chuckle as he noticed Toph blushing, causing himself to blush. "Remember what I said when we got back to the house the first night?"

"About us meeting up again?" Sokka said, trying to think back.

"Yeah, just keep that in your head," Toph said as she looked away, trying to hide the blush spreading further across her face.

"I'll randomly show up at your porch and you'll have to deal with me, whether you like it or not," Sokka joked as he watched her. He took a glance back to his sister, who had her hands on her hips and had an annoyed look on her face. "Guess I'll see you soon."

"See ya Sokka," Toph mumbled and began walking towards Zuko, Suki and Ty Lee. "You said I'd get the VIP treatment Sparky, where's the carriage?!"

"Yip yip," Aang called to Appa as Sokka climbed into the saddle.

"What was that all about?" Katara asked, eyebrow raised as Sokka sat at the back of the saddle.

"I was just saying goodbye to Toph. I can't give her a hug now?" Sokka said defensively, looking back at the group as they flew away.

"I'm just surprised she let you, lost a silver piece because of it," Katara explained, caught off guard by the annoyance in his voice. Aang raised the silver piece in victory and began to roll it across his knuckles.

"Oh..." Sokka began, but didn't continue, deciding instead to stare out across the city as they flew away.

 _A Month Later_

Sokka faced off against his opponent with his sword, a design he had been working on for a while now, held to the left side of his head, pointing upwards. His opponent, mirroring his stance, shifted his weight and made a cut. Sokka shifted his right leg behind him in a passing step as he threw his own cut at the oncoming blade. He repeated the movement on the opposite side as his opponent's sword came around and the blades bound together. He relaxed for a millisecond, until he saw his foe wind and bring his point on line with his face. Sokka managed to bring his hands back and twist them outwards, throwing the angle of the thrust off just in time. He pushed the pommel up with his right hand, bringing it the left side of his head again. However this time his sword was directed at the face of his opponent. A small step later and the point was now pressed against his throat. Sokka felt the man swallow, before breaking into a smile.

"Not bad, almost had you there," the man said as Sokka took the point away from him.

"You shouldn't have, I relaxed when I should have pressed for the initiative," Sokka mumbled with a sigh. "In an actual fight I wouldn't have got so lucky." He felt a tap on his chest and looked up to see the man moved back into his side of the fighting ring.

"Are you going to mope about or fight?" the man jeered. Sokka laughed as he brought his sword up against his chest, pointed it at the man and brought it back up.

"I didn't realise we were fighting Bato," Sokka shot back as he bent into his stance. He kept his blade pointed towards Bato as he advanced with his right foot forward. His hilt was held back at his left hip, ready to thrust. Once again Bato was mirroring his stance. As they came within striking distance, Sokka saw Bato's eyes widen just a bit, and the thrust came fast and strong. Sokka stepped back as he twisted his sword and deflected the thrust off to his right. He brought his hilt above his head, pointing the blade downward to form a sort of shield on his left side. It easily blocked the cut from Bato as he brought it back around, using the momentum from Sokka's displacement.

 _Gotcha!_ Sokka thought to himself as he watched Bato bring the sword around to strike at his now open right side. He swapped his stance and brought his hilt down and up above his head again, forming the shield on his right. Bato was careful not to step too far forward as to not impale himself on Sokka's sword as he switched to the other side. Sokka took a step to the outside with his left leg and slid his right out of the way as Bato cut strongly at his defense. He yielded to Bato's strength, using the momentum to swing his sword back around, stopping just short of Bato's neck. The two warriors grinned at each other.

"Excellent," came a voice from behind Sokka, "Reminds me of when I was your age." Hakoda clapped his son on the back as he walked up to him.

"I don't know Hakoda, I'd say Sokka could give you a run for your money," Bato announced, causing Sokka to look down at his feet, embarrassed at the praise he felt he didn't deserve.

"We'll have to test that sometime," Hakoda laughed. "Although not today, I have a letter for you, from the Fire Nation," Hakoda said, taking out a sealed letter and handing it to Sokka. Sokka gave a small nod of thanks to his father as he took it, and walked a bit away to read it.

"Dear Sokka..." he whispered to himself. _It pains me to say this, but I have to cancel your visit to the Fire Nation and we won't be able to see each other for another couple of weeks. An important trip has been scheduled for Zuko, that I have to-_ He stopped reading there, crumpled up the letter and tossed it over to his bag.

"It everything okay?" Hakoda asked, concern in his eyes as he watched Sokka step back into his side of the ring. He got a curt nod in response. Bato smiled as he lightly pushed Hakoda to the side.

"I'm betting on girl trouble," Bato joked as he turned to Sokka. They did the small salut and faced off again, swords at the left sides of their heads once more. Sokka advanced quickly, but it was Bato who threw the cut. Sokka, instead of retreating, made a passing step towards him. Bato was surprised at the rage in Sokka's eyes as he came forward. Sokka caught the cut with the false edge near the hilt of his sword and pushed upwards as soon as they connected. With the longer guard he designed, he didn't have to worry about it sliding and cutting his hand as he pushed up. He took another passing step, slightly to the right of centre as he forced Bato's sword up. He released his left hand from the grip, keeping hold of it with his right as he swung his left leg behind Bato. He wrapped his free arm around Bato's waist and let out a grunt of anger as he flipped Bato over his hip with ease. Bato landed hard on his front on the snow free ground. Sokka's left hand was already back on the hilt and swung down, stopping the cut above the downed warrior.

"Sokka!" Hakoda shouted in anger as he rushed into the ring. Sokka turned and allowed his sword to scrape along the ground as he stomped back to his bag, tossing the crumpled letter inside. He breathed deeply as he leaned against the wall of ice. He looked back with worry as he saw Hakoda help Bato to his feet. He hurried over to them and bowed deeply.

"Bato, I'm so sorry. I let my emotions get the best of me and took it out on you. I understand if you no longer wish to train with me after today," Sokka said as he bowed. His eyes glanced to Hakoda as he came back up. "I accept whatever punishment you deem fit for me." Sokka kept his eyes downcast as Hakoda opened his mouth to scold him, but a hand on his chest stopped.

"Sokka," Bato began, glancing at Hakoda as he took his hand away from his chief's chest and stepped towards the young warrior. "I accept you apology, even though I see no need for one." Both Sokka and Hakoda looked at him in confusion. "I don't think I could bring myself punish such an expertly done throw, however next time take a minute or two to cool off if you get heated." He placed his hands on Sokka's shoulders. "It's good to see that aggression come out. You wait too long sometimes, uncertain of your movements. I would say today was an excellent session."

"Thank you," Sokka muttered, completely thrown after the praise. "I'll keep that in mind."

"As long as no one was seriously hurt," Hakoda said, smiling the two of them. "Oh I need help in the office, if you'd like to come." Sokka gave a short nod.

"These old bones aren't what they used to be, don't think I've taken a bump that hard since the Hundred Year War," Bato joked as he stretched his back. He picked up his sword and looked over it. "The design is excellent by the way, everything seems to work perfectly. What do you call it?" Sokka's brow creased as he tried to think of a name for it.

"It's quite the long sword," Hakoda noted, taking the weapon from Bato and having a few practice swings. "Longer than most I've seen in the field." Sokka's eyebrows shot up as soon as Hakoda finished that sentence. He scanned his own sword, turning it over as he did so.

"It's a longsword!" Sokka announced, a sense of pride in his voice.

"It certainly is a long sword, but that doesn't answer my question," Bato said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"It does," Sokka said with a laugh. "It's a longsword." He grinned at Bato and his father. Bato was even more confused, but he was pretty sure Hakoda understood, at least from the similar grin he had.

 _Two Week Later_

Sokka sat in what he supposed was his office, although it had originally simply been a large storeroom for his father. He stared at the stack of papers on the left of his desk, then at the smaller stack of papers on the right and finally an even smaller stack at the opposite side of his desk. He sighed as he tried to read the same paper for the third time, something about supplies from the Fire Nation. He managed to get a quarter of the way though it, before his eyes wandered his office. He knew the work wouldn't be the most exciting thing, but he never realised how bored he would be dealing with building permits and disputes.

"Sokka," a voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He glanced up and saw his father standing in the doorway. He sat up straighter as he walked in, and fidgeted with the ink brush when he noticed Hakoda looking at the stacks of paper.

"I have been meaning to talk to you," Hakoda said, sitting cross-legged across from him. Sokka met his eyes and waited. "How have you been feeling?"

"I'm fine," Sokka answered instinctively, before letting out a deep sigh. "Tired and annoyed." Hakoda smiled at his son.

"I had been thinking that maybe you should take a break, your sister has been going on and on about how unfair it was that we spend so much time together here," Hakoda told him. "Plus you've already been working so hard. You deserve one." Sokka was quiet for a moment, before letting out a laugh.

"If Katara wants to die of boredom, she can be my guest," Sokka said, rolling his shoulders back. Hakoda gave him a strained smile.

"I know you're still upset about Suki cancelling the visit, I think it'll be good if you had some time to yourself, do whatever you want to do for a while," Hakoda told him, watching Sokka's head drop at the mention of her name. "A seventeen, nearly eighteen year old shouldn't be locked up in some state building, he should be out having fun, meeting some pretty girls." He smiled sheepishly as Sokka shot him a look. "Of course that last one is off-limits." Sokka couldn't help but grin at his father, who grinned right back.

"Thanks, I think I'll head back to the house, let Katara know how much fun she'll have," Sokka said as he stood.

"Good," Hakoda said, standing with him. "Oh and Sokka," Hakoda began, and Sokka braced for some more lecturing. "Change your clothes." Sokka frowned as he looked down, and began cursing at the ends of his fur coat, which were a mess of ink stains.

 _An Hour Later_

Sokka sat in his room, the blank paper, ink well and brushes of many different sizes laid out in front of him. He glanced at the letter from Suki on top of his bedside table. He had read it multiple times since he first got it, and each time he couldn't stop how much anger he felt towards his girlfriend, the Fire Lord and he eventually realised himself. He told himself he shouldn't have left it go for so long without setting up a trip.

"Too late now," Sokka muttered to himself as he picked up the brush. He sat there for a few minutes, simply taking deep breaths. He started with a simple circle, a pretty good circle if he said so himself. He leaned forward again and began to paint. He wasn't exactly sure what he was painting, and he didn't have a moment to think as certain phrases from the letter began to come to his mind.

 _Pains me to say this..._

He dipped his brush in the ink again. He began painting on the left and right side of the circle, little strokes here and there made whatever it was look puffy and wispy.

 _We won't be able to see each other..._

He painted a very precise single spiral as he went from just below the top of the circle to the middle. He went from the same point again, doing a slightly wider curve. At certain intervals he would paint what he guessed must have been feathers. He painted more along the inside of what was probably a wing.

 _I have to be there... for Zuko..._

He knew that wasn't what it actually said, but his brain seemed to think that those two fit. He finished the wing. A small tail appeared as he continued, changing brushes as he saw fit. Slowly but surely four hooves, that seemed to stand on nothing, came to fruition.

 _You'll be my number one priority..._

He doubted it, she seemed too caught up with the Fire Lord for anyone else to take priority over him, even her boyfriend. He finally began work on the head of whatever creature this was. The rage filled eye made the creature even more dangerous looking.

 _Love you, Suki._

He finally sat back from the painting, and noticed it was beginning to become dark out. He wasn't exactly sure how long he had been at this. He looked back at his work and cocked his head sideways. Even now, after it was finished, he still wasn't sure what he had painted. He wasn't that bad at painting anymore, Katara had at least stopped making fun of his paintings. He stared at it for a few more moments, hoping it would tell him what it was. He was about to give up when something clicked in the back of his mind.

"Toph," Sokka mumbled. The ends of his mouth turned up in a goofy smile as he looked at the symbol of the Beifong family, The Flying Boar. He quickly stood and begin packing his clothes and other essentials.

"Is everything okay in here?" Katara asked as she poked her head through the door. Sokka looked at her, the goofy grin still there.

"Katara!," he exclaimed as he bounded over to her. "Would you do something for you loving big brother?"

"What?" Katara asked cautiously, frowning at him as she took a small step back.

"Would you make that paint dry? I gotta run to Dad's office for a bit." He was already passed her and down the stairs before she could reply. "You're the best!" she heard him call back. She walked over to the table and looked at the painting.

"That's not actually half bad," Katara stated as she raised her hands and focused on the ink. She rolled her eyes as she began carefully drying the ink. "I'm sure Toph will love it, if she wasn't blind."

* * *

The next story in the series! It even comes with my first fight sequence, although no bending yet. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and would love if you could leave a comment letting me know what you thought of it. School is edging ever closer, so chapters may take longer to get out. Thank you very much for reading.

Big thanks to Campside on DeviantArt for allowing to use his excellent drawing for the cover photo.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender or its character, they were created by Bryan Konietzko and Mike Dante Dimartino, and belong to Viacom.


	2. Chapter 2

"Another couple of minutes," Sokka mumbled into his sleeping bag as he turned away from whatever poked him. He had been having an odd dream about an elephant koi and a dragon, and was about to drift back into it when a few more sharp jabs to the back of his head snapped him awake. "Alright I'm up!" Sokka snapped as he whipped around and found Momo staring back at him, making light chirping noises. He was about to make grab for the winged lemur when he heard Aang calling for him.

"We're nearing Tienhai's Cliff, we should be at Old Iron soon," Aang told him once he had sat down on Appa's head next to him.

"Thanks for taking the time to drop me off here," Sokka said as he laid back down, giving Appa a rub as he did so.

"No problem, nice to get away from Katara for a few days," Aang said, looking back and seeing the grin on Sokka's face.

"Uh oh, trouble in paradise?" Sokka teased, giving Aang a small shove with his foot.

"Nothing to worry about, or in your case cheer about," Aang laughed, pushing his foot away. "Although I think I'm beginning to understand why the Air Temples were segregated." He heard Sokka's bark of laughter as he sat back up.

"They're a handful, and my sister is probably the worst of the lot, tied in first with Azula," Sokka told him, wrapping his arm around Aang's shoulders. "When they start complaining or talk about their feelings, just smile and nod. Throw in a couple of "you're right" every few minutes and you should be fine." Aang chuckled as he shrugged Sokka's arm off.

"I've learned taking advice from you tends to be the wrong thing to do, especially when it comes to relationships, but thanks anyway." Sokka rolled his eyes and stood up.

"Just give it a try, you'll see how effective it is, worked wonders whenever Katara would start screaming at me," Sokka said, stepping back into the saddle to pack up his sleeping bag.

"I'll be sure to let you know how it goes," Aang called back to him as Appa began to descend. Sokka slung his bag over his back, along with a tube that contained the painting for Toph. "How do you even know that Toph will be here?"

"I had receive a timetable from Earthen Fire about some check up of their main factories. We received one because of the oil extraction plant back home," Sokka explained as he strapped his sword to his belt. "Toph is apparently meant to be on this trip, so I found the letter and figured where they would be."

"Why would Toph be on this trip, doesn't she have a metalbending academy to teach?" Aang asked as they landed just outside the town. He could see a couple of people poke their heads out of the building to see why a sky bison had just landed.

"I haven't a clue," Sokka said with a shrug as he climbed over the saddle and slid down Appa's arm. "It's probably something she has to do as an executive partner."

"Maybe she wants to spend some time with that Satoru guy, she seemed pretty smitten on him last time we were here," Aang suggested, grinning at the thought of Toph being in a relationship.

"I'll make sure to let Toph know you said hi, thanks again" Sokka said quickly, ignoring what Aang had said. Aang raised his eyebrow at Sokka, but dismissed it.

"Yip yip," Aang yelled, giving Sokka a wave as he flew away. Sokka gave a small wave back as he checked everything was secure before he started walking. He was caught off guard at the size of the town. He could have sworn there had only been at most ten building plus the refinery since he was last here, but now it seemed to be triple that.

"I forgot how good this place smelled," Sokka whispered to himself as he continued towards to refinery taking a deep breath and began following where his nose took him. He glanced at the cabbage merchant's restaurant as he walked passed. "You're definitely not what's making that smell." He broke into a big grin as he spotted a Fire Naiton stand, with meat galore. He quickly made his way towards it, only to stop when he heard his name being called.

"Sokka?!" He turned and saw a Water Tribe girl with weak blue eyes and dark brown hair, tied over her shoulder, running towards him.

"Niyok!" Sokka said excitedly as he met her hug with one of his own. "How's the refinery work treating you? No more collapsing tunnels or angry spirits I hope."

"Nothing as exciting as when you guys first visited, I'm just on break at the moment," Niyok told him, giving him one last squeeze before letting go. "What are you doing here?"

"Official Water Tribe business, can't divulge any information," Sokka said pompously, turning away and paying for two komodo rhino sausages. He turned back to Niyok, who had her hands on her hips.

"Why would they send you of all people with important information?" Niyok teased, a smile playing on her lips.

"Important information needs to be protected," Sokka told her, a smirk on his face as he raised his arms and began flexing. He held the pose for a few moments, until he broke and started laughing. Niyok rolled her eyes as she watched him. "Honestly I'm just here to visit Toph, heard she's meant to be here," he explained, handing her the second sausage.

"I was going to buy my own-" Niyok began, but stopped when Sokka gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "Thanks. If you're looking for Toph she should be in the meeting room in the refinery."

"Okay..." Sokka said, looking towards the large buldings that made up the refinery. "Which one has the meeting room?"

"I'll show you," Niyok said as she gave him a small flick of her head for him to follow her. "How's the tribe?"

"It's... okay," Sokka told her hesitantly. "The North has issued a public apology for attempting to make the South a colony once more." Both Sokka and Niyok shared an angry look as he said that. "However it seems the Northern Chief is still trying to use his influence and old history to make some sort of claim over the South."

"Our people fought off sixty years of raids, losing nearly all of our waterbenders and being split across the South Pole, with no help from the North until they were seriously attacked," Niyok stated, getting angrier with each word. "Now they want us to just lie down while they rob us of our resources and lord over us. I'm beginning to think that Gilak may have had a point." Sokka sighed as they came to the entrance of the refinery.

"Katara has been saying the same thing. We've argued about it for hours," Sokka admitted as he looked around the refinery. "The South needs to catch up with the other nations, and Zuko has supported us fully to do so, but I've come around to the idea of making sure the South isn't just some copy of the North. Although none of us know what the tribe was like before the war." Niyok stared at him, confused.

"What about your Gran Gran Kanna, Ashuna and the other elders?" Sokka was the now the once who was confused. "Do you remember our date, a bit before you went off adventuring with the Avatar?" Niyok asked, her features softening.

"I don't know if I'd call it a date, but yeah of course." Sokka said as he nodded slowly and slightly blushed.

"Remember what we did that night?"

"We sat around the fire and listened to Ahnah tell stories about..." Sokka trailed off as he understood the point she was making.

"About stories and tales from before the raids," Niyok finished for him. "There isn't anyone alive from before the war, but many from before the raids. They know what life was like back then, and most of our history is passed by word of mouth anyway."

"You're right," Sokka said, his brow creased as he thought. "When I get back I'll make sure to speak to Gran Gran and the others, see what I can learn." Niyok smiled brightly at him, before looking down a branching hall in the refinery.

"I have got to get back to work, keep going and there'll be a building to your left once you walk out of the main area, Toph should be in there."

"Thanks Niyok," Sokka said as they hugged again. "Tell Nutha and the rest I was asking for them."

"Glad to be of help," Niyok said as she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before letting go of him and began jogging to her area. Sokka grinned but rolled his eyes as he wiped his cheek and continued down the main hall.

"After nearly three years the Beifong Metalbending Academy has produced a total of fifteen actual metalbenders, big whoop," Toph muttered grumpily as she sat with her feet up on the large table.

"That's still fifteen who'll be able to repair machinery and perform tasks that would take days and even weeks for us normal people in minutes," Satoru countered, as he poured two cups of tea. He looked back at Toph as she blew the bangs out of her face. "I know it seems like slow going now, but I think it's beginning to snowball."

"What makes you say that smart guy?" Toph asked, raising her eyebrow at him.

"Well you told me you only had three who could metalbend in the first year, which is now fifteen. I'd say that's not a bad increase. You could expand, open more Academies around the Earth Kingdom and-"

"If a person actually wants to learn metalbending then they'll drag their sorry butts to my academy, not hope that one might open up across the street," Toph cut in, quickly putting an end to that idea. Satoru chuckled as he walked over and put her cup on the table.

"You're too stubborn for your own good," Satoru told her as he sat down next to her.

"I know," Toph stated with a smirk as she took her feet off the table. The moment her feet touched the floor she froze. She focused on a certain pair of footsteps that were coming nearer, one's that she knew very well. Satoru jumped with surprise when Toph scrambled to her feet and sprinted for the stairs, a huge grin on her face. Satoru hurriedly stood and went after her. Sokka was about to reach the door when they burst open, and felt like a rock hit his chest as the short girl rushed into him. "Sokka!" Toph yelled as she ran into him.

"Surprise!" Sokka exclaimed as he hugged her back.

"What are you doing here?" Toph asked as she pushed out of the embrace and punched him in the arm.

"You said you wanted me to come visit you sometime," Sokka said with a shrug, giving his arm a small rub.

"Could have let me know," Toph said, looking back as Satoru came up behind them.

"Sokka, a pleasure to see you again," Satoru said, offering his hand to him.

"You as well, the refinery has really expanded," Sokka noted as he gripped the hand.

"Yes it had," Satoru began as he moved his hand behind his back once they let go, and flexed it open and closed to get some feeling to return. "We found a new area to dig, with many veins of different materials. Lao Beifong suggested we double the size of our project here."

"Very impressive," Sokka said absently as he looked around at the new buildings.

"Thank you, it's mostly benders, however the machinery is coming close to the output of the them, which I'm sure you'll be happy to hear," Satoru explained, smirking as he glanced at Toph.

"Why is that?" Sokka asked, frowning as Toph got the same smirk on her face.

"Well Toph had told me how during your travels together you, how did Toph put it... sulked like a baby because you couldn't bend," Satoru told him, struggling to not laugh. Sokka glared at Toph, who had no problem laughing about it.

"I didn't sulk," Sokka sulked as he crossed his arms and continued to glare at Toph.

"Lighten up Snoozles," Toph said as she rolled her eyes.

"Anyway," Satoru continued, "I had a design that was actually matching them every now and again, so I made a few adjustments and was confident, so I challenged Toph against it."

"I'll give you one guess who won," Toph said proudly, smirking at Satoru. Sokka glanced, only for a second, at Satoru's hand as he placed it on Toph's shoulder.

"Toph completely blew my machine out of the water," Satoru admitted, "Although I don't think it would have been such a defeat if my machine hadn't caught fire." Sokka cocked an eyebrow at the last sentence.

"Satoru nearly burned down the whole refinery, lucky for him the waterbenders managed to get it under control," Toph told him as she shrugged the hand off her shoulder. "Once again, proving us benders are better."

"For now they are," Satoru said as he stepped over to Sokka and wrapped his arm around his shoulders. "A few more years and it'll be the other way around."

"The problem is Toph, no matter how good our machines are, she'll always find a way to top us, and rub it in our faces while doing so." Sokka muttered as he slipped out of Satoru's grip.

"I told you Sokka was smart," Toph reminded Satoru, a big grin on her face. Sokka frowned again as he began to say something, but was interrupted when someone walked over to them.

"The airship is ready to leave whenever you are," the man said, giving Sokka a curious look, before turning back to Satoru.

"You kind of picked a bad time to come along Snoozles, I've got to leave for another factory soon." Toph mumbled, an annoyed look on her face.

"I know about that actually, was thinking that I could come along," Sokka said, stepping over to her and leaning down. "Must be boring being around that pansy all the time," Sokka whispered.

"Leave Satoru alone, he's sweet," Toph whispered back, grinning as she glanced at Satoru. "Although maybe just a bit. Fine with me if you want to tag along."

"If we want to keep schedule we should get going soon," Satoru said as he turned around. "Sokka it's been-"

"Actually he's going to come with us," Toph announced. "You can show him all your little inventions and ideas." Satoru's face lit up at that idea.

"You're going too Satoru?" Sokka asked as they walked together towards the airship.

"Of course I am, I'm the head engineer for all operations of Earthen Fire," Satoru explained. He laughed at the surprised expression on Sokka's face. "My uncle, after joining the Air Acolytes decided he had enough of the business. He was going to sell his share of the company to Lao, but decided to instead pass it on to me."

"My father pretty much deals with the business side of things while Satoru focuses on getting the stuff out of the ground," Toph added. Sokka didn't respond, he was more interested by the airship. It was about a fifth the size of a Fire Nation airship, and an Earthen Fire symbol stood in place of the Fire Nation emblem. It was the first time he had seen one outside of the Fire Nation.

"I got to get myself one of these," Sokka said to himself as he stepped onto the ship. He turned to offer his hand to Toph, but saw that Satoru had followed in behind him and had already done so. He was surprised when he caught himself staring angrily at Satoru as he held Toph's hand. He quickly looked away and continued up the stairs to the main deck.

"So where are we off to?" Toph asked as they sat down. Sokka opened his mouth to answer but slowly closed it.

"Our mining facility in Mount Makapu, we'll be spending a day or two in the village there," Satoru answered.

 _Why, of all people, did he have to be coming along?_ Sokka thought as he felt the airship move. He wasn't sure why he disliked him, but something about Satoru annoyed Sokka, ever since he met him. _I guess if Toph likes him I can give him a shot._

"Sokka?" Satoru called him, breaking his line of thougth. Sokka glanced questioningly at Satoru. "Would you like some tea, I'm making a pot for Toph and myself."

"Yeah sure, thanks." Sokka muttered. _He seems nice enough I guess._ Sokka's mind told him as they began to rise into the air. However once more, something about what Satoru had said annoyed him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. A few minutes later and he was sitting with Satoru and Toph with his tea in his hands. "Excuse me a moment," Sokka began as he put his cup down and stood up. "I'm just going outside for a moment." He stepped out onto the platform outside the airship, and stayed there for a while, watching as they climbed higher and higher.

* * *

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one is currently in the planning stage. I would love to hear what you think of the story so far and any critiques are certainly welcome!


	3. Chapter 3

Sokka was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the door open and close behind him. The strong, steady footsteps of an earthbender on the metal grating made their way to him.

"You okay?" Toph asked as she back against the railing and glanced over to him.

"I'm fine, just needed to get some air," Sokka told her, looking out over the world beneath them.

"How's the view?" Toph said as she stood up straighter and turned more towards him.

"It's nice," Sokka mumbled, before thinking some more on it. "Peaceful really. Last time I was on one of these I didn't really get the chance to just relax, with you and I saving the world and all." He fell silent for a few more seconds. "It's calmer than on Appa, and I guess flying on him all the time kind of makes you forget to really take in the world as you go."

"Since when did you turn into some boring old philosopher?" Toph joked as she rolled her eyes at the way Sokka seemed to get lost in his thoughts. Sokka laughed and looked over to her. He focused on her milky eyes, remembering how unnerved they used to make him feel when she would look straight ahead rather than in his eyes, like she was staring right through him as if he wasn't even there. However now he was oddly happy with it, as it was like she was solely focused on him. He glanced past her, and spotted the tips of the huge stone pillars of the Wulong Forest, with the scarred land just beyond, in the distance.

"I had been meaning to ask you..." Sokka began, focusing back to Toph. "I had been thinking about heading back to the Wulong Forest to see if I could find Boomerang and Space Sword. I know they were probably swept out to sea when Aang put out the fire, but I was thinking that if you-"

"Yeah sure, whenever you want to go," Toph cut him off, giving a shrug. Sokka's eyes widened in surprise at how quickly she accepted.

"Don't you need to be on this trip? It's still another few weeks," Sokka asked. "If I'm remembering the timetable that was sent to the South correctly."

"I don't have to be here." Toph stated, receiving a confused look from Sokka.

"Why are you even here then?" Sokka pressed, straightening up but keeping his hands on the railing.

"I want to be," Toph told him, annoyance creeping into the edge of her words. "I like to get a break from my lily-livers at the academy, and I can easily repair stuff with metalbending." She stopped for a moment, before a small smile came to her face. "Plus I get to spend some time with Satoru. I still think you two would get on if you just talked a bit." Sokka hadn't heard the last sentence, he was more focused on what she said before that.

"Oh...okay" He muttered with a slight nod and went back to leaning on the railing. _Spend some time with Satoru_ kept running through his head. He let out a sigh. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Toph's hand reach out to grip the railing near him and he pushed lightly off of it. He turned his head slightly more in her direction and saw her frown. She took a step near him and casually went to put her hand on his shoulder. He leaned away and took a step back, turning and facing her, seeing the frown turn into a glare. She leapt at him and Sokka easily sidestepped her and allowed her to continue past him.

"I thought the great Toph Beifong would be able to catch a simple Water Triber," Sokka teased, and she could almost sense the grin on his face. "Without bending," Sokka added quickly as he saw her hands begin to rise. She dropped her hands and grinned back at him. She leaped at him again, but Sokka simply jumped back to avoid her. She followed after him, cursing him each time he narrowly escaped her grasp.

"No where to go," Toph told him victoriously as he stood at the end of platform, his back against the railings. He shifted into a stance, staying on the balls of his feet. He saw a small smirk on Toph's face and suddenly she launched forwards, arms out wide to grab him. He lunged forward and dropped low, his arms spread out, keeping his balance. As he ducked under Toph's arm, he shifted his back leg to the front, allowing his back arm to follow. He powered upwards and held the finish form, as if he was airbending, for half a second before turning around to Toph, who had her eyebrow cocked.

"What did you say? Sokka called to her, ready to jump back if she went for him.

"Twinkle Toes has been showing you some new moves," Toph noted. Before Sokka could respond she came at him again, and he quickly started to retreat.

"Sokka, To-" Satoru stopped as he walked onto the platform and saw the two of them, taking in somewhat deep breaths and grinning like fools. He chuckled a bit before he continued. "I just wanted to leave both of you know that we should be arriving at Mount Makapu soon."

"Thanks, I'm actually going to go in, pretty cold this high up, should have brought my South Pole clothing," Sokka said as he began walking towards the door Satoru was standing by. He felt a pain shoot through his arm as Toph's fist connected with it and pushed him aside.

"Gotcha," Toph announced triumphantly as she stepped inside the airship. However she was annoyed that she didn't actually get to check his heart rate. It had been beating fast from the little game they had played. She would have been able to tell if something was up with him if she had just managed to land a hand on him.

 _He's got a lot lighter on his feet since the war._ Toph thought to herself as she sat down. She watched him sit cross-legged across from her.

"I think I'm going to have a bruise from that one," Sokka stated as he rubbed his arm.

"Am I still doing this right?" Toph asked, pointing to her eyes as she rolled them. She heard Sokka let out a laugh and gave another roll of her eyes.

* * *

The next chapter is done! Well technically it was done a few days ago, however initially chapter 3 was going to be this plus the time spent in Makapu Mine/Village. I decided that this worked better as it's own chapter. Chapter 4 is already planned out and is close to being finished. Another few days and it should be out. School has now officially begun, so writing will probably be slowed.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and would love to hear your opinion on it so far, or any little comments you may have. Reviews are always welcome. Thanks for reading! :)


	4. Chapter 4

"The Water Tribes weren't meant to go to places like these," Sokka grumbled as he wiped the sweat off his brow as they descended deeper into the mine. He glanced at Toph and Satoru ahead of him, who were also sweating, but no where near as bad as him.

"Stop being a baby," Toph called back to him, although she was starting to get very annoyed with her bangs clinging together.

"Actually he's right, there's a reason we don't have the Water Tribe people mining here," Satoru explained as the path began to level off. "Pretty quickly we saw Fire Nation people, especially the firebenders aren't as affected by the heat as the Water Tribes or Earth Kingdom, although the earthbenders aren't too bad. I don't think I need to explain why firebenders are best suited to this place."

"Those baths outside the mine seem like a wonderful idea right now," Sokka stated as they reached flat ground. "Why are you even mining so close to a volcano, doesn't that seem like a terrible idea?"

"That's the job of the waterbenders, they keep the water cool for when miners come out, not the most tasking of jobs but an important one," Satoru told him as they continued along the path. He pointed to different streaks of colour along the wall. "We've found huge deposits of minerals and gems here. Zinc and copper is plentiful, along with silver and many different gems. Of course the main reason we're here..." Satoru trailed off. Sokka's jaw dropped as they stepped into a large cavern, lit up by small green glowing crystals. Golden streaks and patches lines the walls and roof.

"Gold," Sokka finished for him, looking around the cavern, miners walked from place to place, grabbing different tools or using bending to further a dig. They walked towards the middle of the cavern, where a large, muscular man stood looking down over plans. He glanced up to the trio, and broke into a smile.

"Satoru, good to see you!" the man boomed as the two embraced.

"You as well!" Satoru said as they let go. "This is Honghui, he basically runs this entire mine. Honghui this is Sokka, of the Southern Water Tribe." Sokka stuck out his hand, and was grasped by the forearm.

"I know the name, you accompanied the Avatar in his journeys during the Hundred Year War and took down a fleet of airships, if I remember correctly." Honghui noted, an impressed look on his face. He glanced at the short, young girl and frowned.

"I don't think this one needs an introduction," Satoru said as he watched Honghui's eyebrows shoot up.

"Toph Beifong." Honghui said, bowing to the girl. "It's an honour to meet you." She returned the bow, but had a cocky grin as she came back up. "Satoru, if you have a moment." Satoru nodded and followed him to the table. Sokka glanced down at Toph, who had her head slightly titled.

"You okay?" Sokka said and Toph's head went back to the normal angle.

"Yeah, just checking out this room," Toph told him, giving a more exaggerated tap of her foot. "I can't bend certain metals like gold, maybe I'm not good enough yet, but I can still tell they're different to normal rock, and so it gives a strange... feeling when I focus on it."

"What do you mean?" Sokka asked, looking along the gold veins in the walls. Toph thought for a moment, trying to find the right way to describe it.

"I can feel all the earth around us, and I can reach out and grab it, move it, do whatever I want with the earth." Toph explained, giving the ground a light stamp and making a small rock come to her hand. "I can feel the gold and other metals too, but it's like they're just out of my reach." She crushed the rock in her hand into dust. "If I could just work out how to get a hold of those metals in my head, I bet I could become an even more powerful metalbender."

"Considering the fact you invented metalbending, I'm sure you'll figure out a way," Sokka told her, a grin coming to his face. "I'll lock you in a golden box one day and you'll have to figure out how."

"Good luck trying," Toph said as Satoru walked over to them while Honghui walked away to a group of workers.

"Honghui told me we may have to hire some new firebenders to help keep the place lit up," Satoru told with an annoyed frown.

"What about the glowing crystals, they seem to be doing a fairly good job here," Sokka noted as he looked around the room.

"Yes, but we've been having trouble trying to work our way through the caves here. There is a lot branching off from this cavern, but many are too small for us to fit crystal lighting." Satoru stroked his chin as he thought, Sokka doing the same.

"Back when Katara and I were investigating that hidden mine your uncle had, I tied a crystal to my head so I could have both hands free," Sokka began, getting Satoru's attention. "What if you attached them to the helmets your miners wear?"

"Or..." Satoru trailed off, grabbing a crystal from a lantern on the table. "Toph, would you be able to crush this down?"

"Easy," Toph said, clenching her fist and causing the crystal to break. It quickly turned into a pile of tiny shards. Sokka and Toph watched Satoru grab a helmet and begin tinkering with it. A few minutes later and he had a small circular indent in the front of the helmet. He gathered the tiny glowing shards and dropped them into the hole. He held his hand over it as he pointed it towards a dark corner of the cavern. He moved his hand out of the way, carfeul not to allow the shards to spill out, and the corner lit up.

"This is perfect, I just need a clear cover to hold the crystal in," Satoru said as he put the helmet down. "You're a genius Sokka." Sokka's eyes widen at the compliment but he smiled in thanks, until Toph burst out laughing.

"Oh yeah, Meathead's a genius. I knew you'd actually make his dumb ideas work," Toph announced, and smirked when she felt Sokka glare at her.

"I'm going to show Honghui this, if you'll excuse me," Satoru told them, grabbing the helmet and walking towards the bossman.

"Genius huh... Finally someone sees it," Sokka said proudly.

"Told you that you would get on with him," Toph reminded him. "I should probably talk to some people here, see if they need any help repair or moving stuff. Don't break anything." Sokka went to follow her and opened his mouth to protest, quickly shutting it as he knocked over a lantern.

About fifteen minutes later, Toph came back and made a chair and footstool for herself. She made a small stone stump for Sokka when he complained to her. They waited for another few minutes, until Satoru walked towards them.

"Well everything seems to be in working order," Satoru announced as he neared them, a wide smile on his face.

"Thank Tui and La," Sokka mumbled as he stood, breathing a sigh of relief as he stood.

"Just one last thing," Satoru said, placing a small box on the table. Sokka sighed again, although this time sadly, and collapsed back down on the stone stump. "Toph would you come over here."

"Fine," Toph muttered as she heaved herself out of the chair and stepped over to Satoru.

"I had wanted to get you something for quite sometime," Satoru started, getting an interested look from Toph and a cocked eyebrow from Sokka. "The partnership between you and – or Earthen Fire and the Beifong Academy has been amazing. With you and your students help, we've made huge progress, and personally getting to see you metalbend has been incredible." Sokka couldn't help but roll his eyes at the praise. "Getting to know you has also been a pleasure, so I wanted to thank you." He opened the box and Sokka's eyes nearly popped out of his head. Satoru handed the gift to Toph.

"It's beautiful," Toph gasped as she began to turn it around in her hands. Sokka had to agree with her. The large golden bracelet, with a pair of red gems on the on each side and an emerald on top, shined brightly in the green lighting.

"I'm glad you liked it, I remember you showed me the one on your arm, space earth or something like that. I thought you might like a new one," Satoru explained. Sokka glanced down at his gear, which he had put under the table, and spotted the tube he had brought with him. He felt he had to say something.

"I had actually brought something I wanted to..." the word "show" died on his lips, remembering how his sister had laughed and reminded him Toph was blind when he got back to the house. He could never work out why he kept forgetting.

"I don't know why everyone is giving me stuff but I like it, can this be a new thing from now on?" Toph asked, grinning excitedly.

"I've been trying to think of a way to allow you to see it," Sokka continued as he grabbed the tube and opened it. "I painted – stop giving me that look – I painting the Beifong symbol.".

"Yeah and if you painted it then I doubt it looks like it," Toph joked, hearing Sokka shake the tube.

"Hey! Katara says my painting skills have got pretty good," Sokka shot back.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Toph retorted, grinning up at him. He unrolled and held it up, pointing it more at Satoru than Toph.

"That's actually quite well done," Satoru stated, looking at the painting intently. Sokka smiled brightly at him.

"Wait..." Toph said, her eyes wide. "Did someone actually compliment Meathead on his artwork?" Sokka rolled his eyes and began to put the painting back into the tube, angry with himself for forgetting she wouldn't be able to see it.

"That reminds me actually, did you check the bottom of the bracelet?" Satoru asked, and watched as Toph turned it around and ran her fingers down along it. She stopped at the first engraving, her excited grin coming back. She ran her finger along the familiar grooves of the flying boar. "Keep going," Satoru told her. She did so, and her smile grew even wider.

"The Earthen Fire symbol," She said to no one, tracing the engraving.

"To symbolise our partnership," Satoru said. Toph took a step towards him and gave a quick hug.

"I love it, thanks Satoru," Toph said as she hugged him.

"Let's see how it looks on you," Satoru said excitedly. "Take off that other one and try it on!" Toph's hand immediately went to the space bracelet underneath her sleeve and turned her head towards Sokka, who seemed like he'd had enough of being down in the mine. His eyes flicked to her hand on her space bracelet, then to her eyes, which were unsure. "Toph?" She turned back to Satoru, who looked concerned.

"That's not happening," Toph told him strongly.

"Oh..." was all Satoru could say for a few moments. "I had just thought that you'd like something new," Satoru mumbled disappointedly. "It's just that the bracelet you have is a bit... bland, I thought something with a bit of colour would look nice, change it up a little."

"A bit bland?" Toph repeated. Sokka had been paying attention to their conversation after Satoru told Toph to take off Sokka's gift.. He spotted her eyes go wide in a very familiar way, one that she always did when she was about to yell at him. Toph was about to unload on the annoying engineer, when Sokka stood in between them.

"Why don't you just put it on your other arm," Sokka suggested, hoping he wasn't too late. Toph's mouth hung open for a few seconds, until she closed it and pulled up the sleeve from her elbow on her right arm. She closed the gold bracelet over her upper arm. "Looks lovely." He stepped away from them, openly glaring at Satoru as he did so. Satoru was surprised at the look, but quickly turned his attention towards Toph.

"Looks like the fit is perfect too," Satoru added. He glanced back over to Sokka, who was still giving him a somewhat annoyed stare, and spotted Honghui over his shoulder. "I actually have one more thing to discuss with Honghui, you two can make your way up and get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll head into the village tomorrow. I heard there is this wonderful fortuneteller that I would like to visit."

"Aunt Wu," Sokka told him as he began to walk away. "I'm pretty sure she's a con artist." He heard Toph laughing and turned to her.

"I heard about that, something about struggle and anguish," Toph said as they began walking along the corridor to the underground hill.

"Yeah, most of it self-inflicted apparently," Sokka grumbled, remembering how she had just skipped over him.

"Sound pretty accurate to me Snoozles," Toph teased, grinning back at him as she began climbing.

"I was an uncoordinated teenager with-" Sokka didn't get any further, as the next step he took he felt the ground move out from under him and fell flat on his face. He looked up at the smirking face of Toph, and spotted her clenched hand. "That doesn't count!" he shouted after her as her mocking laugh filled the mine. They reached fresh air and Sokka was nearly overwhelmed with emotion. He gulped at a water jug, spilling half of it, then pouring the remaining over his head.

"Hurry up Meathead!" Toph called, wanting to get back to the airship to wash up. She felt him start to walk towards her, then veer off, towards the baths for the miners.

"Just give me a minute," Sokka told her as she stood there impatiently. She was about to argue, when she felt the vibrations of his clothes hitting the floor. Other than his loincloth, he was pretty much naked.

 _Whoa... that's new._ Toph thought to herself as she focused on Sokka. Each step brought a picture of the athletic and muscular body of the Water Tribe boy. _Man_ Toph's mind corrected her. She remembered feeling his bicep back in the Fire Nation, but this was a lot more interesting, and fun. The image disappeared as Sokka let himself fall into one of the free baths. She was no longer focused on Sokka, and a small tap on the ground made her realise that many of the other women had been looking at him. _Your staring at him..._ Toph's mind mentioned to her. _You're staring at him!_ It shouted this time. She quickly turned and began walking towards the airship. She violently snapped her head down, bringing her bangs right over her face, and pulled on them to try and further hide the deep blush that had set in, praying Sokka hadn't noticed.

* * *

Told you chapter 4 was close to being finished ^^ Chapter 5 is mostly planned out, although still has some stuff to be looked at. Writing has began as I pretty much have the beginning plotted. Chapter 5 will pretty much be the trip to Aunt Wu's Fortune Salon, so look forward to that :D

I'll try and keep the updates coming but school and homework will of course take priority. If you ever want to get an idea of what the current situation is like, feel free to pm me. This also goes for any questions you may have.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and would love to hear your opinion on it so far, or any little comments you may have. Consider following if you'd like to keep up with the story. Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Sokka stared at the ground as he leaned against the outside of the airship, trying his best to avoid eye contact with Satoru. Satoru glanced up from his report at the warrior every now and again.

"Wonder what's taking her so long," Satoru said aloud, looking up once more at Sokka. He got a simple shrug for an answer. Another few minutes of silence, except for the sound of Satoru's writing, passed between them. "I spoke to Honghui about the crystal mining helmets," Satoru mentioned.

"And?" Sokka muttered, looking at Satoru with feigned uninterest.

"He loved it," Satoru told him, smiling as he stood up. "We're planning on having all of our mines implement them. Thanks by the way." Sokka gave a curt nod and went back to looking at the ground. Satoru frowned as he titled back and forth on his feet. "Are you okay?" Sokka's head snapped up, his face difficult to read.

"Yeah I'm fine, why?" Sokka asked as he pushed himself off the airship.

"You just seem a bit..." Satoru trailed off, trying to find the right word.

"I'm fine," Sokka repeated, staring past Satoru at nothing. Satoru nodded and decided that he shouldn't press any further. He was delighted when he heard the door to the airship open, and saw that Sokka had similarly perked up. "Took you long enough."

"Be glad I even got up, was planning on falling right back to sleep," Toph told him as she stretched her back, reaching towards the sky. "Do we have to do much walking?"

"We-"

"It should be maybe five minutes if we keep a good pace," Sokka cut Satoru off, glancing at the small map on the table.

"We can't just fly in on the airship?" Toph complained. "I want to go back in and lie down."

"There isn't really a place for us to land," Satoru explained as they began to walk into the forest.

"Can't I just make one?" Toph asked and she demonstrated by stamping her foot and sliding it sharply. Rock and dirt was pushed to the side, creating a smooth piece of land in front of them. She stopped walking, waiting for their response.

"You should look into the road business Toph," Sokka called back to her as he and Satoru continued down the road. She stood there defiantly, suppressing her smile when she saw Satoru look back and wave. Her face dropped in defeat and she trudged after them. The two slowed down for her, and Toph slotted between them. She leaned one way or the other, talking to both Sokka and Satoru as they walked.

"Magnificent," Satoru remarked as he looked up at the glistening black waves, some just reaching their apex, while others defied gravity and the cooled lava threatened to come crashing down at any time.

"I'm impressed," Toph admitted, lightly tapping her foot to get a better idea of the waves. "Can't believe Twinkle Toes did this."

"You should have seen him during it!" Sokka told them, ignoring the disappointed look Toph threw his way. "Of course without my plan there wouldn't have been a path for the rest of the lava to flow safe." Sokka pointed out the large trench as he explained to them why he was the real savour of the village. Toph made a small flick of her head and a few seconds later he found himself at the bottom of the trench, lying flat on his stomach, while Toph laughed down at him. After Sokka climbed out of the trench, refusing Satoru's hand in the process, they made their way into the village.

"Aren't you that Water Tribe guy that was here with the Avatar?"

"Is Aang here?!" Two voices behind them called. Sokka glanced back and frowned.

"Toph..." Sokka said slowly. "Are you sure my head wasn't bleeding?" He looked back and forth between the two. The only difference between the two boys being which side they wore their braid on their robe, and that one wasn't wearing shoes.

"I helped Avatar Aang and you create the trench, I was one of the earthbenders," the one with the braid on his left said.

"Right..." Sokka muttered, rattling his brain to remember. "Pang right?"

"Ping," the other one corrected, "and he's Poi."

"Poi and Ping, got it." Sokka repeated. He wasn't exactly sure what to say next.

"So is Aang here?" Poi asked, breaking the silence. The twins' faces lit up with excitement.

"Nope," Sokka said and their faces dropped. "He's probably off doing some crazy Avatar stuff."

"I told you the Avatar wouldn't need your help," Ping said, turning to his sibling. "Why would he need the help of some random earthbender like you?."

"At least I'm coming up with ideas!" Poi shot back. Sokka sighed. He didn't want to ask, but at this point he felt he had to.

"This is some fortune Aunt Wu told both of you isn't it?" Sokka asked, a little freaked by how in sync the twins turned their heads and nodded.

"She said that this year we'll find out what we want to do with our lives," Ping explained. "Barefoot over here seems to think it's going on some amazing adventure. I'm pretty sure she just meant a job."

"For you maybe. He's just jealous that I'm an earthbender and he's not," Poi shot back. The twins were about to start arguing once more, when Satoru quickly stood between them.

"We're always looking for capable workers at the mine," Satoru told them. "If you head over there and say I sent you there, I'm sure Honghui would have no problem giving you a trial run over there."

"That sounds great!" Ping said, a smile coming to his face, while Poi's dropped.

"Mine work?" He asked.

"Earthbenders like yourself are incredibly important for us, you'd get to use your ability for practical use," Satoru explained as he tried to persuade him. Poi glanced to his brother, whose eyes were wide.

"Fine, I'll give it a chance.," he said begrudgingly. "If you see Avatar Aang anytime, tell him I'm up for anything he can throw at me." Sokka gave him a small nod and watched, bewildered as the twins set off towards the mine.

"I can't believe these people still put trust in that woman, after she nearly got them all killed," Sokka said with a shake of his head.

"Wasn't she technically right?" Toph asked, a teasing tone to her voice. "The village wasn't destroyed by the volcano."

"Don't you start," Sokka warned as they continued to Aunt Wu's Fortune Salon. The trio stepped through the open door and were immediately assaulted by the strong smell of incense. Crystals and strange objects were placed around the room. Toph allowed herself to fall back into the mound of cushions and happily sank into them. Sokka and Satoru sat on either side of her.

"Hi. I'm Meng, Aunt-" Meng stopped when she spotted Sokka and became visibly excited. "Is Aang here?!" She quickly scanned the room and it seemed that even her hair dropped when Aang was nowhere to be found. "Nevermind."

"Can you bring us some of those bean curd puffs?" Sokka called to her as she turned and walked away.

"I didn't know Twinkle Toes had a girlfriend before Katara," Toph said, looking over at Sokka.

"She wasn't his girlfriend," Sokka said, suppressing his laugh. "She had a thing for him or something. I offered him some advice because I thought he liked her too, if I knew it was my sister he was after, I'd probably have been a bit different."

"Did he like her?" Toph asked, shifting and sinking further into the comfy cushions.

"I didn't exactly take notice of Aang's social life, we were a bit busy fighting off a volcano." Sokka quietened when Meng walked back out placed a tray of food in front of them.

"It's amazing how you say that so casual, you were off fighting a volcano, like it's something you do every week," Satoru said, taking some food from the tray.

"Guess that's what happens when you travel with the Avatar," Toph said dismissively, "I'm always the best part of the stories anyway."

"Didn't you nearly walk off the top of the Fire Nation airship when we were fighting against Ozai, and I had to lead you by the hand along it?" Sokka asked. Toph could feel her face heat up from embarrassment, that had never exactly been her proudest moment. She opened her mouth to call Sokka a rude name, but a voice cut her off.

"Welcome young travellers, I..." the voice trailed off as her gaze pasted over Sokka. "Oh..." Aunt Wu muttered disappointedly, "It's you."

"Yeah, it is," Sokka answered back with the same tone. Aunt Wu looked at the other two, a smile returning to her face.

"Young girl, would you like your fortune told?" Aunt Wu asked, and Toph gave a small shrug and stood up. She followed Aunt Wu into the back room. "You're Toph Beifong correct?"

"Yeah, did you do some weird fortuneteller stuff to figure that out?" Toph asked as she sat down in front the fire in the middle of the room.

"Everyone knows of the blind master earthbender," Aunt Wu told her as she sat down opposite her. Toph smirked at the statement. "I think it's quite interesting you sat down right here, next to the bones."

"So how does this work?" Toph asked, reaching out and picking out a bone at random.

"This is known as throwing the bones. Very simply you toss your bone into the fire, and I will read your fortune from the cracks that appear," Aunt Wu explained as she watched Toph go to throw the bone she picked up, but stopped before she did. "The bones can be generous or stingy in their fortunes, or sometimes even reference things in the past that you may not have thought of as important." Toph gave a small nod as she put the first bone back. She ran her hands along the different bones.

 _Too narrow, too curved, too big_ Toph thought to herself as she picked up different ones. Aunt Wu sat patiently as she watched the blind girl, happy that she hadn't just thrown the first bone she had grabbed.

"This feels good," Toph muttered to herself as picked up another bone. It was straight and light, with what felt like a heart shape at one end, while the other was slightly jagged. She tossed it into the fire.

"Now we wait, you'll probably hear the cracks," Aunt Wu told her, and watched Toph turn her head so her ear pointed at the fire. Sure enough she heard the first crack, strong and sudden. The vibrations told her that it had cracked at the jagged end.

"Interesting..." Toph heard Aunt Wu whisper to herself as she listened. She heard a few small cracks, and then two more strong cracks simultaneously. A few more seconds past with no cracking noises, and Aunt Wu used a pair of tongs to take the bone out. She placed the bone in a bucket of water, steam hissing out as she did so.

"So what does it say?" Toph asked. She didn't want to seem eager, she didn't really believe that any of this stuff worked, but curiosity got the better of her.

"It's a very specific pattern of cracks," Aunt Wu told her, tracing her finger along the cracks from the jagged edged up to the top. "There are a few proper breaks here, the first starting from the bottom of this bone, to just under half way up the bone's length." She went silent again, thinking carefully.

"There was three breaks, I heard them," Toph stated as she grew impatient.

"Yes, and it cracked in a very interesting way. Two cracks, diverging at an almost perpendicular angle to each other. The one on the left wraps around and up along the side of this heart. The other follows a similar path, but stops just short of the heart." Aunt Wu handed the bone to Toph, who found the side the cracks were on and began tracing them herself. "You'll notice that the one that stops just before the heart is thinner and somewhat sharper in its break, I'm not sure if that has any significance but may help you work out what it's telling you as you think back." Toph frowned at the fortuneteller as she kept finding herself tracing the one that went right around her heart.

"Think back?"

"If you remember I said the first one ends just under half way. I believe those breaks represent time," Aunt Wu said as she saw Toph's unseeing eyes widen and her fingertip stop.

"There's like a notch near the beginning of the crack that goes right around, is that meant to be now?" Toph asked, showing it to Aunt Wu.

"Very possible. Either way, if I'm reading the bones correctly then you recently made a decision that caused a very significant change to take place, possibly in a relationship," Aunt Wu continued, seeing Toph's hand go to the heart shape on top. "Does that ring a bell?"

"Nothing," Toph admitted, frowning as she thought.

"That's common, there are many things that we may consider small and don't take notice of in our lives, that have a large impact on our life. Think back over the last few days, but also keep an eye out for a decision you make, just in case." Toph nodded and stood, holding out the bone. "Keep it, you might learn more from it."

"Thank you," Toph said with a small bow, following Aunt Wu out to the front again. Satoru looked up from his notebook, smiling at her as she walked in. Sokka would have done the same, but he was too busy with the bean curd puffs.

"How was it?" Satoru asked, spotting the bone in Toph's hand.

"Interesting," Toph answered, more focused on the bone than talking.

"How about you next?" Satoru looked up at Aunt Wu and nodded. He looked excited as he followed her.

"Let me guess," Sokka mumbled as he swallowed the last bit of food. "It was filled with some really vauge fortune that didn't really tell you anything." Toph rolled her eyes as she pocketed the bone.

"I get now why Katara told me you just complained when you arrived here," Toph said, lying back into the mound of cushions.

"I'm just saying, these fortunetellers are a load of hacks," Sokka told her with a shrug. Toph didn't respond. He glanced over to her and saw her tracing her space bracelet under her sleeve. "I was wondering..." Sokka began, and Toph looked in his direction, her hand dropping from the bracelet. "Why didn't you take your bracelet off when Satoru gave you the new one?"

"I like having it on my left arm, I've always worn it on this arm since you gave me it," Toph said with a small shrug.

"I'll be honest, the one Satoru gave you is lovely, you shouldn't keep it hidden-" Sokka stopped talking as he lightly tapped Toph's sleeve, feeling the small arm underneath. "You're not wearing it?" Toph quickly blushed and shifted away.

"I left it at the airship in my room," Toph told him, looking away and pulling at her bangs to hide her face. Sokka looked at her questioningly and motioned for her to explain. He saw her take a breath as she thought of what to say.

"It's fine if you don't want to explain," Sokka told her. Truthfully he was somewhat happy to see that she wasn't wearing it, it didn't seem very Toph-like.

"It's not that I don't like it, I do. It's just that I can feel it there all the time and it annoys me. The bracelet you gave is as much a part of me as my feet," Toph said, tracing the curve of the bracelet once more. Sokka's eyes widened in surprise.

"Didn't know it meant that much to you," Sokka muttered.

"You're joking?" Toph asked, frowning when he didn't respond. "You know this is pretty much my favourite thing in the world right?" Toph asked. "Except bossing people around of course," she quickly added, keeping her face away from him to hide the worsening blush.

"No I didn't," Sokka said, the surprised expression not leaving his face. They were both quiet for a moment, Toph hoping that would be the end of it, while Sokka was thinking. "So that's why you didn't want to put the bracelet up as a bet back in the Fire Nation." Toph gave a small nod, cursing under her breath. "I guess I should have realised, the bracelet did help you figure out who had an ability to metalbend."

"It's not that. It was important to me before I even started up my academy," Toph told him. "Remeber when you and I first started out scamming, how Sugar Queen was freaking out it all the time, then she suddenly wanted to do a scam together?" Sokka gave a small nod and shifted from the pillows to in front of her, finding it odd to have her not even slightly looking in his direction. "During her and I's great scam we got locked in a wooden cell-"

"-And Katara used her sweat as water to cut through the wood," Sokka finished, as Toph stared low at his stomach keeping her hair in front of her face.

"Yeah, did you ever wonder why I didn't just use the bracelet to smash my way out?" Toph said, and Sokka's brow creased.

"Never cross my mind honestly. Why did you leave it?" Sokka watched her roll up her sleeve and make the bracelet a bit wider, slipping it off.

"I... I was worried they were going to take it off me when we got arrested, so I kept it back at the camp. It's always meant a lot to me," Toph finished, messing with her bracelet.

"That's nice to know... thanks."

"No problem Snoozles," Toph said, glad that she wouldn't have to talk anymore on that.

"How come it means so much to you?" Sokka asked, and Toph felt like punching him. Thankfully she felt Satoru and Aunt Wu walking out of the back room. She quickly slipped her bracelet back on.

"I'll tell you some other day, your turn for a fortune," Toph told him, smirking up at him. Sokka looked back at Aunt Wu, who had a peculiar look on her face, until it disappeared and was replaced with annoyance as she looked at Sokka.

"Are you actually going to guess my fortune this time?" Sokka said as he stood up.

"I wasn't going to," Aunt Wu admitted, "but I suppose I do owe you a reading after last time. By the way, I predict your fortune, not guess it."

"It's basically the same thing," Sokka said with a shrug as he followed her in. He couldn't help but focus on Toph and Satoru talking as he walked away. He walked past Aunt Wu and sat down at a table, a bit away from the fire.

"So you did want your palms read after all," Aunt Wu stated as she sat down opposite him. He looked down at his hands.

"Let's get this over with," Sokka grumbled as he held his hand out, palms facing up.

"Actually tell me first what you would like to know about," Aunt Wu said, pouring a cup of tea for herself. She looked at him for a second, before pouring one for him as well.

"Thanks, but I've seen that trick, I tell you what I would like to know, and you tell me what I want to hear."

"You can just say a topic, money, health, your love life, whatever you want. You don't have to go into details," Aunt Wu explained. Sokka sighed and rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe he would have to listen to her drone on for a couple of minutes about whatever vague idea she came up with, why was he even here?

 _Why am I here?_ Sokka's mind repeated, and he would have seen Aunt Wu smile slightly from his facial expression if he wasn't so focused on answering the question. _I was bored, I wanted to get out of the tribe and go on some adventure. I spent a year travelling with the Avatar, it's hard not to want that again._ That was the answer he gave, but he knew it wasn't the right one. _Love you, Suki._ He sighed as the words echoed in his head.

"Fine, tell me about my love life," Sokka said, holding his palms out once more. Aunt Wu smiled kindly at him and took his palms. He felt her trace along the lines in his palms, starting and stopping at seemingly random points. However he noticed she kept going back to the same line, he glanced down and spotted it. He followed Aunt Wu's thumb from just underneath his pinky finger, gently curving upwards until it stopped between his forefinger and middle finger.

"Strange," Aunt Wu whispered to herself as she went along the line again. Sokka was about to complain when she let go of his hands and sat back, grimacing at him.

"Well?"

"I don't know how exactly to describe it but... I saw nothing," Aunt Wu said, and Sokka glared at her. He was about to argue, but she was quicker. "Usually I would see a face, maybe some defining feature of the person. Sometimes it would be a gift or a place and I would tell you to either think back or keep an eye out, but I simply didn't see anything." Sokka's mouth closed slowly but he continued to glare at her. "I'm sorry, I did actually want to give you something."

"So that's your prediction, I'm going to die alone with no children!" Sokka snapped at her suddenly.

"That is not my prediction at all!" Aunt Wu replied quickly, surprised by the outburst. Sokka threw his hands up and outward, telling her to explain. "I don't know what will happen for you in your love life. I suppose all I can really tell you is that love is blind, you could have already have found your love for all you know."

"I already have someone," Sokka told her, crossing his arms.

"Then why did you ask about love?" Once more Sokka's mouth hung uselessly open, but he saw Aunt Wu's eyes fill with understanding. "I'm truly am sorry I wasn't able to tell you anything." Sokka sighed and his head dropped, but he bowed slightly to her.

"Thank you anyway," he muttered as he bowed. She returned his bow and they made their way out to the front. For once Sokka didn't focus on Toph and Satoru talking, but rather what Aunt Wu had told him. He didn't understand why he cared so much, he didn't believe any of it.

"Good reading?" Satoru's voice interrupted his thoughts. Sokka glanced back at Aunt Wu, who had a neutral look.

"Fine I guess, none of it's true anyway," Sokka said gruffly.

"I agree, although I think it's good to have some sort of good news to be on the lookout for," Satoru whispered to him. He stood and helped Toph out of the mound of pillows. "Thank you for the readings Aunt Wu, it was everything I had hoped for today."

"You are all very welcome, good luck in your mining business Satoru." The four of them bowed and the trio began to walk back to the mining camp.

"We'll have to get travelling if we want to keep our schedule," Satoru told them as he looked at his notebook.

"What's next?" Toph asked, thinking of pushing Sokka back into the ditch again as they walked towards it.

"Ba Sing Se, we'll be arriving in a small area in the Se mountain range inside the Outer Wall. It should be a short trip, we'll be spending a couple of days in the Upper Ring, I've booked a lovely place for us." Satoru explained.

"That doesn't sound too bad, I haven't been in Ba Sing Se in a-" Sokka would have finished what he was saying, if the ground underneath him hadn't shifted sideways, and a light push by Toph stopped any hope of recovering. "Ow," was all that came from the bottom of the ditch, and Toph's chuckle turned to a howl of laughter.

* * *

Hello hello!  
Chapter 5, the longest chapter so far, is complete :D. I'm assuming the next chapter or two will be quiet shorter, although I have yet to plan them out. School has definitely taken a toll on my writing, although thankfully I'm still able to get some done, I've learned to function off five hours of sleep anyway.

Also, check out my lovely friend Nerdy J Fics on , she's currently in two competitions for both ATLA and Harry Potter, so if you're a ATLA or HP fan, you'll find some great stories being churned out by her.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and would love to hear your opinion on it so far, or any little comments you may have. Consider following if you'd like to keep up with the story. Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

Sokka sighed angrily as he crumpled another piece of parchment up and tossed it to the side. He grabbed a new one and slide a wooden block across it, flattening it and keeping it from moving. This was the fifth time he had done this today, and he was close to snapping his brush. He looked at the Beifong family symbol again, trying his best to get it right. He couldn't exactly understand why he was having so much trouble this time.

 _That one I painted for Toph was probably one of the best I've done, and I did it without even realising it._ Sokka thought to himself as he worked on the wings of the boar. Another few minutes past and he sat back, trying to figure out what was annoying him about this one. He glanced down at his brush handle, and noticed he was tracing the same line on his palm as Aunt Wu had traced. He pulled his hands apart quickly, making the ink on the brush fly and splatter on to his painting. In another moment of genius, Sokka slammed his fist into his forehead, and let out long, slow breath as he felt the ink begin to roll down his nose.

"Mind if I come in?" Satoru's muffled voice said through the door. Sokka scrapped the sixth painting for the day and grabbed for a cloth.

"Come in," Sokka called as he tried to get the ink off his face.

"Thanks, I wanted-" Satoru stopped as he looked at the crumpled parchments lying scattered around the room, and the smudged ink stain across Sokka's forehead. "Bad day?"

"What do you want?" Sokka said curtly as he began to put away his tools.

"Oh well..." Satoru started, caught off guard at Sokka's tone. "As you know we'll be in Ba Sing Se in a few days. I was wondering if there was anything you want to do?"

"I would have thought you'd have everything planned out for us," Sokka said, standing and stretching his back, busying himself so he wouldn't have to look at Satoru.

"I did," Satoru laughed, "However Toph told me she wanted to spend a couple of days there, so I'm looking for any possible suggestions." Sokka thought for a minute, glancing at a small map of Ba Sing Se.

"I haven't seen Earth King Kuei in a while, maybe we could pop in for a visit," Sokka said, deciding to stop being petty and looked at Satoru, whose eyes had gone as wide as possible.

"Earth King Kuei!?" Satoru exclaimed. "I've been trying to get in contact with him for ages, you wouldn't believe how difficult it is to meet him. Do you really think you could just go and see him?"

"Trust me, I know better than anyone how hard it can be to see the Earth King," he said, remembering dealing with Long Feng and his Dai Li agents. "Toph and I sort of saved the world, I heavily doubt he'd turn us away," Sokka told him, frowning as he saw Satoru once more get an excited look in his eye.

"This is amazing, I could talk to him about allowing us to mine closer to Old Ba Sing Se, the amount of crystal deposits that aren't being mined is huge." Satoru quickly got his notebook out and wrote down whatever came to his head for when he met the Earth King.

"I said he wouldn't turn Toph or I away," Sokka reminded him. He didn't like that he took a bit of satisfaction as he watched Satoru deflate at his words.

"Well if you do go meet him, would you try to put in a good word for me?" Satoru asked. Sokka was once more surprised that he even thought of just giving a shrug of his shoulders, and thought better of it.

"Old Ba Sing Se is quite an important historical and symbolical area for the Earth King," Sokka told Satoru, whose face dropped. "but I'll mention it to him. That's if we do see him, he might be busy. No matter how famous we are, he is the Earth King after all." Satoru smiled gratefully at Sokka, who looked away. "Speaking of old friends, we should visit the Jasmine Dragon."

"That is already on the list, Toph told me to write it down the moment she got me to agree to the extra stay," Satoru said, making a small note next to it. "It would be amazing to meet the Dragon of the West."

"I think he'd prefer Iroh honestly, those days are behind him." Sokka saw Satoru write in another small note.

"I guess we can spend our days at the Jasmine Dragon, I'm sure Toph and you have some catching up to do with Iroh." Satoru's eyebrows shot up as went to put his notebook back. "I forgot, these arrived just before we set off from Makapu, I had meant to give them to you but it must have slipped my mind," Satoru said, taking out a small bundle of letters and handing them to Sokka. He opened the first one and saw it was from Katara. After reading the first couple of sentences, Sokka looked to the calendar on his wall, and his eyes narrowed.

"Satoru, how long are we staying in Ba Sing Se?"

"We should be spending maybe a week at most. First couple of days will be checking out the possible site for our new mine, then some meetings with some government officials about actually mining there," Satoru explained, watching Sokka move closer to the calendar and run his finger along the days. "Afterwards we'll probably be forced to do whatever Toph wants to do."

"I can't believe I forgot," Sokka mumbled to himself. Satoru looked at him questioningly as Sokka turned around, an unreadable look on his face. "It'll be my birthday while we're there." Sokka frowned as he put the stacks of letters on his table.

"That's perfect, we'll all head out to celebrate," Satoru told him, smiling widely. "Birthday wishes?" He gestured to the letters.

"Yeah, Katara probably made sure everyone sent one, guess I'll try to make my way through them," Sokka said, sitting cross-legged by his table. Satoru stood there for a couple of silent moments.

"So we'll head out on your birthday then?" He saw the short nod from Sokka and decided that was the best he was going to get. He stepped out of the room, sliding the door closed.

 _What in Agni is his problem!_ Satoru's mind shouted at him as he walked away. _I thought we were actually becoming somewhat friendly, now he's just been nothing but rude._ Satoru looked over to Toph, who was having a great time spitting over the edge of the railing. _She was right about him being innovative, but there's no doubting that snow savagery is still there._ Satoru did a double take. He couldn't believe he had just used that term to describe Sokka, someone who had saved the entire world from destruction. _Once a savage always a savage._ He pushed the thoughts out of his mind, walking towards the blind earthbender.

"I guess I'll keep trying, at least so we don't end up fighting and Toph just beating us both up," Satoru muttered to himself as he stepped out onto the platform, going to tell Toph about Sokka's birthday.

* * *

A fairly short chapter this week, as I had guessed. The next chapter will deal with the visit to the Jasmine Dragon, which will lead into some fun Tokka stuff. I already have Chapter 7 planned, and it is currently being written. I'm hoping to get it by this time next week. :)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and would love to hear your opinion on it so far, or any little comments you may have. Consider following if you'd like to keep up with the story. Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

Sokka jumped as the bed rocked from the kick it had received. He half-opened his eyes, and looked at the fuzzy image of the cute girl looking down at him.

"Five more minutes babe," Sokka mumbled as he turned away from the girl, pulling the blanket tight around him.

"Babe?" the girl repeated. Sokka sighed happily as he drifted off back to sleep.

"You better wake up right now Snoozles!" Toph screamed in his ear, making him sit bolt upright, covering his ears. "Good. I'm not your babe either." She turned and stormed away, while he rubbed his arm wondering what he did to deserve a punch. He threw the blanket it off him and got out of bed. "Happy birthday by the way," Toph said, poking her head back into the room.

"Toph!" Sokka shrieked as he covered himself, before grimacing as he saw her give him that common disappointed look, although he didn't take his hands away. "Sorry." She rolled her eyes before heading for the stairs. Sokka quickly got dressed and followed after her.

"Happy birthday," Satoru said, looking up from a report as Sokka came into the kitchen. Sokka gave a short nod and went to pour himself a cup of tea. However a punch to the arm stopped him.

"We're going to the Jasmine Dragon to see Iroh, you can have tea there," Toph told him, smiling widely as he rubbed his arm again.

"I didn't know tea was worth inflicting pain over," Satoru said as he cleared his stuff away and slung a small bag over his shoulder.

"It is," Toph stated, waiting by the door for the two of them.

"I won't even argue that," Sokka said, giving his arm a shake. "There's a reason Iroh's tea got him a place in the Upper Ring." Satoru gave a small shrug and followed Toph outside. Sokka came last, slipping his boomerang into its sheath on his back. The sun was at its highest point, they must have slept right through the morning. "So what are you going to do now that they won't leave you open your new mine here?" Sokka asked Satoru as they walked towards the Jasmine Dragon.

"I suppose I'll just have to petition again some time later, maybe see if we can get some more samples to really get an idea of what's down there," Satoru explained, although anger bit at his words. "I doubt that bullheaded official would even care, he seemed like he just wanted to finish his work as quickly as possible."

"I told you give me a minute alone with him and I would have convinced him to allow you to mine there," Toph reminded him, smiling sweetly at him.

"I'm not sure if assaulting an official is were I want to take this company Toph."

"I'm just saying, you have the greatest earthbender to ever live, why not use her?" Toph said with a small shrug. "We could just go there and mine, just really quietly. What's the chance they'd ever check the mountains?"

"Never ever give her any power in any business related matters," Sokka told Satoru, while Toph just rolled her eyes, still grinning as they walked up the stone steps to the patio just before the Jasmine Dragon.

"This has to be the best thing to ever happen to this city," Toph said as she took a deep breath, enjoying the aroma of tea coming from the building. They walked into the busy dining room and spotted Iroh talking with a customer as he poured his tea. He glanced over to them, his calm face breaking into a large grin. He quickly excused himself and made his way over, his arms out wide. Toph quickly skipped ahead of Sokka and Satoru, embracing Iroh and hugging him hard.

"It is great to see you again," Iroh said, giving her a small pat on the back, before letting go and turning towards Sokka. "A man of the Southern Water Tribe, how is Sokka getting on back home?" Iroh asked, a slight emphasis on the word man. Sokka frowned and was about to correct him when he saw the sparkle in the old man's eye. "You have grown quite a bit since I last saw you," Iroh noted as Sokka and him clasped hands and pulled each other into a hug.

"It was about time," Sokka said, grinning down at Iroh. "It's awkward when people hear you saved the world, and say they expected me to be taller."

"You don't hear me complaining," Toph said, and Sokka turned to her, a smirk on his face.

"Well you're a girl, so it doesn't really affect you as much," Sokka shot back, placing his hand on the top of her bun and brought it back, stopping just at the base of his neck. Toph's fist connected with Sokka's arm. Iroh chuckled and shook his head as the two began trading insults. He turned and bowed to Satoru, who returned it, much deeper than Iroh had bowed.

"It's an honour to meet you," Satoru said. He had heard stories of the ferocity of the Dragon of the West, yet here he stood in front of him, a jolly old man.

"The honour would all be mine if I could know your name."

"Satoru, I'm a co-owner of Earthen Fire and a friend of Toph's." Iroh glanced back to Sokka and Toph, who were still deep in their argument. He had an intrigued expression that vanished when he looked back to him.

"I heard about what happened with the spirits of Lady Tienhai and Old Iron, I am happy to see the company has recovered, it is good to see the nations helping each other to mend the wounds of the old wars." Satoru nodded in thanks and watched Iroh place his hands on Sokka and Toph's shoulders, stopping their argument. He gestured for them to follow him and led them to an empty table. "Order whatever you like, it's on the house," he told them, handing each of them a menu. "I'll sit down for a chat soon, there are quite a few regulars that I have to talk to first."

"Before you go..." Sokka said as he looked worryingly at the menu. "The white dragon tea is actually white dragon right, I heard about what happened during you and Zuko's trip." Iroh let out a deep laugh as he walked away. "He didn't answer the question..." Sokka trailed off, the worried look not leaving his face.

 _Two Hours Later_

"How is your father after the Gilak incident?" Iroh asked Sokka as he refilled their cups with tea.

"He's fine, he's suffered worse during the war, take a lot more that a cowardly strike to take my dad down," Sokka said, before taking a long sip from his tea.

"I haven't heard fully what happened, other than tensions are now very strained between the Water Tribes," Iroh told them.

"Gilak was basically an isolationist, an ultra-nationalist and an extremist. He believed that we needed a strong leader, like the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, to help us make ourselves significant in the world. He thought that because of our egalitarian way of life in the South, the other nations would eventually exploit us." Sokka stopped speaking, unsure of how to continue.

"Isn't that what nearly happened?" Satoru asked. He had zoned out of their conversation for a while, Toph, Sokka and Iroh had been speaking about old adventures and battles, and it was simply too much for him to be able to follow along. However he knew a lot about this subject, it was his job to know.

"I suppose so," Sokka mumbled. "The North wanted to have full control of the oil underneath our land, and turn us basically into a colony."

"Wasn't that how it was like long ago, before even the Hundred Year War had been a thought in my Grandfather's mind?" Iroh asked, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

"It's complicated," Sokka admitted. "Technically yes it was, but the Northern chief was more of a figure head, we were mostly left to do as we pleased. Now that the war is over, many people from the North have come to the South, along with others from the other nations to help us rebuild and become a force on the world stage."

"You have thought much of this," Iroh noted. Sokka nodded and glanced over to Toph. She tried her best to look interested, but the political problems of the South Pole never was something she thought she would care much about. She was right. "I have seen what such a viewpoint can do. Firelord Sozin believed that the Fire Nation had a duty to spread its prosperity to the other nations, but saw them as unfit to rule over themselves. He sought the destruction of the other nations so that they could stand tall."

"Gilak talked about a loss of our culture and heritage, and Katara and I have debated it back and forth." Sokka stopped and chuckled slightly. "Gilak and his so called patriots made their base in the old Fire Nation cruiser, where they told stories and tales of our history."

"Ironic that they would choose such a place to safeguard their history," Iroh said, laughing lightly with Sokka.

"We've threatened to withhold all assistance if we hear the North try anything again," Satoru cut in, "Earthen Fire has acted as a middle mad between the North and South, we're hopeful a long-term deal can be made soon."

"That is great to hear," Iroh told him. "You are opening a new mine in the Outer Ring correct?"

"He was," Toph answered for him, perking up. "However some boring government guy told him no, and that was the end of that."

"Pretty much what she said," Satoru said, laughing. "It doesn't matter, we have a lot of new sites to check out."

"The business is doing well?" Iroh asked, and Sokka noticed the odd way Satoru's mouth hung open, as if he was worried to answer.

"Fairly well I would say, we're expanding to many different areas around the world, we're hoping to double our amount of factories and mines in a few years." Iroh sat back, nodding and stroking his beard again. His eyes went to the flowers that faced out the door, towards the slowly falling sun.

"The head of the flower moves slowly but surely. It may take weeks, even months for it to reach its desired destination, but when it does, it finds itself in the perfect position to catch the rays of the sun. When it needs to move again, it does so as carefully as before." Sokka and Satoru stared at Iroh, both completely dumbfounded at the old man's riddle.

"He's giving you advice" Toph said, punching Satoru in the arm. Both Sokka and Satoru's brows furrowed as they tried to decipher the advice. "I thought you two were meant to be the smart ones." Toph looked over to Iroh, who had an amused look on his face. "Sorry that Meathead and Gears over here are being idiots."

"Maybe you should simply tell them," Iroh said, while Satoru looked at Toph oddly.

"Gears?" he asked.

"Your nickname, about time I found one that worked for you. Meathead's was much easier." Satoru glanced back at Sokka, whose annoyed eyes stared right back. "Want me to explain it?" Toph asked arrogantly, pulling his attention away from Sokka's gaze.

"Sure."

"He's telling us to be careful about expanding too quickly. Make sure that all of our current mines and whatever are all in a good position before going crazy with the new sites," Toph told him, while Iroh nodded along.

"Thanks, I'll make sure to discuss that with Lao," Satoru said after a few moments. Sokka thought he kept seeing Satoru glance towards him, as if he was trying to work something out. Satoru once again quickly looked away when Sokka stared back at him.

"Always glad to be of some help," Iroh told him. Sokka glanced over to Toph, who still had that arrogant look on her face.

"Since when can you understand Iroh?" Sokka asked her, and Toph simply shrugged.

"She has called out here a couple times since the war had ended. We would sit and chat for a few hours and then she would head off again," Iroh said, and Sokka smirked at Toph.

"That's really sweet, I didn't know Toph was so caring and-" Sokka was cut off when he felt another pain shoot up his arm.

"Shut it." Sokka gave a playful shrug and sat back as Toph and Iroh continued talking. He saw Satoru, staring into his tea, deep in thought. He seemed puzzled and Sokka now found himself trying to catch Satoru's eye.

"Sokka?" Toph's voice broke his concentration. He looked questioningly over to her, saying nothing, and she gave a small roll of her eyes. "Did you hear anything new about Azula?"

"Nope, haven't heard a thing about her or her merry band of crazies since the Kemurikage incident," Sokka responded, and Iroh frowned.

"You were both in the Fire Nation for the Festival of the Setting Sun right?" Iroh asked them, and Toph and Sokka both nodded. "How is my nephew doing? I feel I should be over there, guiding him as best I can, especially now that Azula is back."

"Zuko is perfectly capable of being Fire Lord, you said that yourself. Sure the first year or two have been a bit rocky-" Toph said.

"Rocky is a bit of an understatement, a war pretty much broke out between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom in the very first year," Sokka interjected, getting the fifth punch of the day.

"I wouldn't worry about him. Even with the threat of the New Ozai Society, he's completely safe with Suki by his side," Toph finished. "Plus the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors," she added quickly, knowing from the slight tilt of Sokka's head he was raising his eyebrow at her.

"You are probably right. I am simply just a silly old man worried for his nephew. I certainly worried enough back during the war." Iroh joked.

"You seem too wise to be silly, I will agree with the old part though," Toph said, laughing with him. She was glad when she felt Sokka's head go back to its normal angle.

"I had always meant to ask, what did you and Zuko get up to when you abandoned the Fire Nation? I heard bits a pieces, but never the full thing," Sokka asked as he refilled everyone's tea.

"Where to begin?..." Iroh said aloud, gently pulling at his beard. They spent another few hours at the Jasmine Dragon, listening to stories Iroh told, and talking about the war.

"It's beginning to get dark," Satoru noted, looking out the open doors of the shop. "I was thinking we should head out, see what the Upper Ring has to offer."

"Sounds good. Would you like to come with us Iroh?" Sokka asked, finishing his cup and standing up.

"I would, but I have some business here I must attend to. It was lovely to see you and Toph again," Iroh told them, giving a quick hug to both of them. "It was also a pleasure to get to know you Satoru."

"You as well Iroh, thank you for the advice tonight... it's left me with much to think about," Satoru said. Iroh gave a small bow to him, and he returned it.

"A moment Sokka," Iroh said as the trio began to leave. Sokka looked back and followed Iroh to a Pai Sho board in the corner of the room. "Have you given Pai Sho much thought?"

"Not really. I play it with my dad and some of the other men at the tribe, but I haven't really practiced that much," Sokka admitted.

"Play as much as you can, it is a good game to sharpen the mind." Sokka nodded, not entirely sure what Iroh was getting at. "Of course, any Pai Sho player should have his own set." Iroh held out a tile to Sokka. "Take this, the beginning of your own collection." Sokka's eyes widened as he looked down at the White Lotus tile in his hand.

"Just like the one Master Piandao gave me as a gift when he first trained me," Sokka noted as he looked at the tile. "Although I wish I knew where I put it."

"This is not just some normal birthday gift Sokka," Iroh said, and Sokka's eyes narrowed and locked onto his. "This is an invitation. Whenever you feel you want to use it, look for any man such as myself by a Pai Sho table. Ask them for a game and in your first move, place the White Lotus tile in the very middle, and state your name and that you wish to learn about the White Lotus." Sokka nodded, his mind racing at a hundred thoughts per second.

"Thank you," was all he could say.

"Due to your deeds, you are already an unofficial member of our society. However I, based on my own experiences and along with reports I have received from Master Pakku and Master Piandao, believe you would make a fine addition to our ranks." Sokka was once more breathless, he quickly pocketed the tile and bowed deeply to Iroh. "Happy birthday Sokka," Iroh said as he, instead of bowing, pulled Sokka into another hug. Sokka smiled gratefully at him, and gave a nod of thanks. He turned and jogged after Toph and Satoru, who had been slowly walking away from the Jasmine Palace. Iroh couldn't help but smile as he watched them go.

* * *

I hope this chapter makes up for the relatively short chapter last week. It was nice to get to write Iroh in this chapter. I've found that when you're writing two characters that are quite similar, such as Toph and Sokka, someone like Iroh can give a nice change in terms of how they speak. Anyway, the next chapter is currently being planned out and I hope to start writing it by Saturday night or so.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and would love to hear your opinion on it so far, or any little comments you may have. Consider following if you'd like to keep up with the story. Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

The noise of the city got louder and louder as they walked. Slowly the amount of people on the street also grew, families and couples going to restaurants and seeing what the night had to offer. While Satoru and Toph blended well into the Upper Ring, Satoru only being distinguishable from his red clothing, Sokka hadn't a hope. The dark-skinned, weapon carrying warrior was a clear contrast to the high-class people of the Upper Ring. However Sokka mostly didn't notice the sideways glances.

"So will we see if we can find a nice restaurant?" Satoru asked as he looked around the street. "I doubt it would be hard, I'm sure there is a square with anything we want just a bit ahead."

"Honestly," Sokka began, "I don't feel like some big meal. I might have something small from a vendor if we find one." Sokka looked back at Toph, who had stopped in her tracks and stared at him with her mouth agape.

"How can you not be hungry? You're always hungry!" Toph said.

"I probably just filled up on food at the Jasmine Dragon, those dumplings were delicious," Sokka told her, although she still eyed him suspiciously for a few moments.

"Well I'm starving. I could eat a whole hippo cow," Toph said. Sokka began looking around, searching for somewhere to bring her. Satoru saw it first.

"Over there," Satoru announced, pointing to a small line of people coming from a shop. "Come on Toph, I'll get you something. Do you want anything Sokka?" Sokka simply shrugged and leaned against the post of a house, watching as they stood in line. Sokka watched Satoru point towards the menu. Satoru seemed to freeze, until he dropped his hand and started laughing. Toph stood with her arms crossed. Her head was tilted in that disappointed way she always had it whenever he made the same mistake. He looked away and he realised he was grinding his teeth.

"Don't want to ruin my perfect smile," Sokka said to himself as he watched the people walk past him. He spotted a couple who were looking over at him, their eyes glancing from him to his sword at his hip. He gave a small wave and smiled at them. The woman smiled back, but the man gave a curt nod, keeping his eyes on him. Sokka held the man's gaze, puzzled by the way he looked at him, until he saw Satoru and Toph walking back with food in their hands.

"Sure you don't want some food Meathead?" Toph asked when she reached him, but he still shook his head. "Are you sure you aren't sick?"

"Yeah I'm pretty sure," Sokka said, laughing with her.

"I was talking to someone in the shop, asking them for any suggestions," Satoru said after he swallowed his food. "He mentioned the Si Wong Oasis, some bar not far from here."

"That sounds perfect. Some drinks would be nice after all the travelling and working," Sokka said.

"Getting drunk sounds fun!" Toph mumbled through her food.

"I'm not sure if that's exactly a good idea, especially considering you're only fifteen," Satoru said, frowning at her while Sokka laughed.

"It'll be fine, let's go. Hopefully it's not as difficult to find as old owly's library," Sokka said, waving away Satoru's concerns. They walked along the street for another few minutes, Sokka and Toph reminiscing about the time they spent in the desert, until they spotted the name along a building.

"Whoa," Sokka exclaimed as they walked in and sat up by the front of the bar. He couldn't stop looking around at the items on the wall. There were some sandbender garbs hung up and He saw a familiar object attached to the counter of the bar.

"Don't break anything," Sokka heard Toph say as he looked at the compass. He gave the glass cover a few pokes, but the compass was fixed, pointing South-West.

"Can I help you?" Sokka jumped when he heard the voice. He looked up into the tanned, lined face of the bartender.

"Sorry," Sokka said sheepishly. "Haven't seen one of these for a few years."

"It's fine," the bartender said through a laugh, before looking closely at Sokka. "Where would you have seen such a compass, you're a bit too dark to be a sandbender."

"My friend and I journeyed through the desert a few years ago, found an abandoned sand-sailer buried in the sand. Pretty much saved our hinds," Sokka explained, motioning to Toph as he spoke. "We found a tribe, the Hami if I'm remembering correctly, and they helped us find our way out."

"I've heard of them. Very Impressive, not many would survive even getting into the desert without a desert guide," the bartender said as he looked at the young girl.

"Well we kind of had a flying bison at the start," Toph told him.

"A flying bison?!" The bartender repeated. "You two must have travelled with the Avatar?" He looked at them with shock as Toph nodded.

"I'm Sokka of the Southern Water, and that is Toph Beifong, the Avatar's earthbending teacher."

"Nainzu, of the Sanju Tribe. It is an honour to meet the heroes who saved us all," Nainzu said as he shook both their hands. "And you?"

"Satoru," he said as he shook hands with the bartender. "If I may ask, how did you find yourself in Ba Sing Se, let alone in the Upper Ring? I mean no offence, but the general view of the sandbender tribes isn't exactly a favourable one."

"Thieves and raiders, I know the stereotypes," Nianzu said with a grin. "I won't deny that there's a reason those stereotypes exist about the tribes, many do raid travellers and caravans passing through. It's why us Sanju, and some others offer protection and act as guides."

"Would have been nice to have one of you guys back then," Toph said sourly, remembering everything being fuzzy in the desert.

"So how did you wind up in Ba Sing Se?" Sokka asked.

"I was offered a position of a bodyguard for a noble here in the impenetrable city after helping escort them through the desert. It's generally frowned upon to leave the tribe, but I finally had an opportunity to escape that desert, so I accepted. Took a few things from the journey as you can see." He gestured to the many items along the wall. "I stayed as a guard for a few years, finished my contract and became a free man. I made many friends and connections in the Upper Ring, and managed to open a bar. That was about ten years ago." Sokka watched the bartender look across his trophies with pride. "Enough with the old times, what would you three like to drink, a personal and bar favourite is the sandbender style cactus juice."

"What makes it sandbender style," Sokka asked, seeing the smirk on the man's face.

"The cactus juice here is all watered down! Cactus juice is usually watered down with... well water, it completely kills the kick in my opinion. Us sandbenders however, we prefer to water ours down with a bit of alcohol," Nianzu explained.

"We'll have three of those then!" Sokka said excitedly. Nianzu nodded, placing three cups on the counter and filling the cups up just under halfway with cactus juice. He opened another bottle, and filled the cups the rest of the way.

"First one is on the house, enjoy."

"I don't think so," Satoru said, blocking Toph from taking one of the cups. "She's only fifteen." He gave Sokka a disapproving look. Nianzu simply shrugged, downing the free drink and pouring a glass of water for her.

"Sorry Toph," Sokka muttered as he took his drink. "Although maybe getting the greatest earthbender of all time wasted isn't the best idea."

"It would have been fun," Toph protested, but sighed when she saw neither was changing their mind. "Great, now I'll have to deal with a drunk Meathead and Gears tonight."

 _An Hour Later_

"That stinger and skull is from the same buzzard wasp I took down with this very sling," Nianzu explained as he took the items off the wall and placed them on the counter. "Careful with the stinger, that thing is as sharp as a razor. Funny story actually, made it into a dagger during my time as a guard, worked pretty damn well."

"That's incredible," Sokka mumbled as he inspected the stinger, carefully checking the sharpness by shaving a small bit of hair off his arm. "That must of been a one in a million shot."

"Aye, I'm guessing it's probably what made that noble offer me the job. Caught that pest right in its eye," Nianzu said proudly, holding the sling out in both hands.

"We have slings in the South as well, fantastic for catching small prey. Although personally I prefer the boomerang, trained with it since I could walk," Sokka said as he slid his boomerang out of its sheath and handed it to Nianzu. "If you throw it right, it'll curve around and come right back to you, or close enough anyway."

"Incredible, must be useful to hit things without them ever seeing you." Sokka nodded, picking up the buzzard wasp skull for a closer look. "I would have thought having it be sharpened would be more useful."

"We mainly use these when hunting birds and other small prey," Sokka said as he took the boomerang back. "They were also much more useful against the Fire Nation soldiers, we weren't going to cut through their armour, so we simply smashed their helmets in." Nianzu laughed at the explanation. "Sharp ones would be more useful against the larger stuff in the South, such as the polar bear dog or snow leopard caribou. You're not knocking those beasts out, so you want to disable one of its limps, or even cut through it's neck if you're skilled enough. I've only ever pulled that off once."

"I thought surviving in the desert was a challenge, but those creatures sound more dangerous than anything there," Niazu noted. Toph and Satoru sat to the side of the two warriors, listening to them talk.

"I think I get why you call him Meathead now," Satoru muttered to Toph as he leaned close to her. "All he ever seems to think about is hunting and fighting." Toph gave a small chuckle, and Satoru grinned as he glanced back up to Sokka. However it disappeared when he found the deep blue eyes glaring right at him. Satoru didn't know if it was the cactus juice, but he decided for once to hold eye contact with Sokka. "What?"

"Mind repeating what you just said?" Sokka said, standing up off his stool and crossing his arms.

"Just that you only seem to be interested in fighting," Satoru told him as he stood up. He put his new-found boldness down to cactus courage.

"Yes I like weapons, hunting and knowing how to fight, what's exactly your point?" Sokka spat, stepping closer to Satoru, until they were within arm's reach.

"Calm down, I was making a joke to Toph," Satoru said, not taking a step back as Sokka had imagined.

"Oh, a joke? Okay what's the joke then?" Sokka said, shifting his leg slightly back in a more stable and ready stance.

"That I call you Meathead because you like to fight, even though it's actually because you're an idiot who only thinks about food," Toph said, hoping to defuse the situation by making light of it.

"To be fair, someone can figure both of those things out from the moment they see him, I know I did." Satoru added, and saw Sokka's brow furrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Toph asked, raising her eyebrow at him.

"Well he's from the Southern Water Tribe, of course all he thinks about is fighting and killing," Satoru said, his eyes going wide when he saw Sokka bare his teeth and leap for him.

"Enough!" Toph yelled as she stepped between them with both her hands on their chests, stopping Sokka like a stone wall. She pushed them both backwards a couple of steps. "Satoru, leave right now!" she ordered him. Satoru frowned, confused.

"Why should-"

"Get out!" Toph snapped, stamping towards his direction and making the entire street shake. Satoru raised both hands, nodding quickly as he stepped backwards towards the door. "I'll head back to house then." He took one last glance at Sokka, before turning and exiting the bar.

"What in Oma and Shu is his bloody problem?!" Toph yelled in frustration, before turning back to the two warriors. They both looked at her with a small hint of fear. "I'm sorry about that Sokka, I can't believe he actually said that."

"It's... It's fine Toph. You know what, let's not leave it ruin our night. We can deal it in the morning," Sokka said, slowly sitting back down on his stool. Toph stood there for a moment, before sitting down next to him. "Nianzu, I'm sorry about that, nothing broke did it?"

"Nothing that I can see. Don't worry about it, I've seen and heard much worse during my time. If you'll excuse me, I have to go check on the other customers out back, make sure they're okay." Sokka nodded and watched Nianzu walk away.

"So about me being too young to drink..." Toph said, a sly grin on her face as she turned towards Sokka. Sokka let out a quiet laugh, before checking to see if Nianzu had come back in. He quickly poured half his drink into Toph's empty cup, and topped his up with Satoru's abandoned drink. "That's why you're my favourite," Toph laughed as she held the cup up to him. He tapped his cup against hers, and couldn't hide his smile as the two sat and drank together.

* * *

Well Satoru messed up pretty badly, let's hope Toph doesn't deal with him her way! Got this chapter out a bit early, and it's a good medium sized chapter. Chapter 9, which will include Sokka and Toph simply having fun together, will be next. I'm happy to say that chapter is for the most part already planned out, so it should be on schedule. It was originally going to be part of this chapter, but thought the shift in tone deserved to have it be a new chapter.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as always would love to hear your opinion on it so far, or any little comments you may have. Consider following if you'd like to keep up with the story. Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

"That one's nice– oh, but that one has the Earth Kingdom symbol in gold on the front, just like my old bag," Sokka said to himself as he stared through the window of the shop. Toph swayed side to side, a permanent look of giddiness on her face as she tried to not fall over while she waited for Sokka.

"I didn't realise you still loved your little purses," Toph called to him. He glared back at her, but finally stepped away from the closed store. "Another thing you and Satoru seem to have in common," Toph noted as Sokka walked back to her.

"They're not purses! They're bags for men, a man-bag if you will," Sokka snapped, then paused. "Although, maybe in Satoru's case, calling it a purse is correct."

Toph gave a small laugh. "I still don't get why he acted that way. I never knew he thought like that," she said. "I thought you two were actually becoming friends."

"He's probably intimidated by having an actual warrior around him." Sokka shrugged, then frowned when Toph stopped and doubled over with laughter. His expression deepened when she kept laughing, her arms wrapped around her sides. "Hey, I'm very threatening!"

"Maybe to little girls," Toph managed to say. She suddenly stopped, an amused look on her face as she looked at Sokka. "Oh, wait..." She broke down into laughter again, while Sokka crossed his arms and turned away from the girl, noticing the people passing by looking at them. Toph pulled herself together, then rolled her eyes when she realised he was turned away from her. "You're so easy to make upset. Come on." She grabbed his hand and pulled him along. Sokka couldn't help but grin as he was dragged by a girl nearly half his size. She slowed to a walk once Sokka had found his footing, but didn't let go of his hand.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather hold onto my big muscles?" Sokka asked, smirking at the memory of Toph discreetly fawning over him back in the Fire Nation. She immediately released his hand and gave Sokka another punch to add to the collection.

"That's the sixth one today; my arm is going to be black and blue for weeks!" Sokka pouted as he rubbed his arm.

"They're birthday beatings. Stop being a baby." She smirked at him. "Although, if you want me to stop..."

"What are you plan–" Toph grabbed him by the wrist, and pulled down sharply. The ground opened and swallowed his hand, then with a small clench of her fist, the ground closed around his hand. With a few movements of her feet, she did the same to his ankles.

"Haha, very funny, Toph. Now let me out," Sokka said, not bothering to try to pull out of the earth. He craned his neck and saw Toph step in front of him. She placed her hand on the top of his head.

"What did you say back in the Jasmine Dragon again?" she asked.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry! Now let me out." Sokka looked up at her malicious grin. Toph simply laughed as she stepped to the side and pulled up his sleeve. She pulled back her fist and Sokka shut his eyes and braced for what was coming.

"Seven," Toph said, lightly tapping his arm. "Eight." The tap was a bit harder, but nothing that would faze the man. Toph kept counting with slightly more power behind each punch. "Sixteen." Sokka clamped his mouth shut and gritted his teeth. "Seventeen."

 _How is such a tiny girl so strong!?_ Sokka grunted from the hit, and Toph grinned. She walked in front of him again and bent down until their faces were only inches apart. He stared into her milky green eyes. _I could easily kiss her from. . ._ Sokka decided to stare up at the sky, but his eyes wouldn't leave hers for very long. _Just a small one on her lips. She's already going to punch you anyway, might as well give her a reason._ He let out a slow sigh and looked back into her eyes.

"Well?" Toph said.

"Well, what?" He stared at her. She rolled her eyes and stayed quiet for a moment.

"What am I?"

 _Cute._ Sokka huffed, understanding what she wanted. "You're Toph Beifong, the greatest earthbender to have ever lived." Toph raised an eyebrow at him.

"And?"

 _Beautiful._ "You're not short?" he tried. Toph stood up straight, placing the heel of her foot on his forehead.

"Good enough," she told him as she released his limbs and pushed him. He fell backwards, landing on his back, and found himself staring up at a teasing smile. "Eighteen." Sokka let out a chuckle as he took the hand Toph offered him and pulled himself up.

He dusted himself off and stretched his back. "I'm going to get you back for this somehow," he said as they began walking again.

"Sure, you will." Toph giggled as she swayed and bounced off his shoulder. Sokka watched, amused, as his friend concentrated on walking straight, but failed spectacularly.

"Maybe I gave you too much to drink tonight," Sokka said, putting his arm around her shoulder and keeping her steady.

"You drank way more than me though," Toph argued, shrugging off his arm and standing with her arms crossed.

"Toph, I'm still able to walk properly," Sokka said, holding back a laugh as he saw her take a step back to stop herself from falling over.

"You've just had more practice, so you're able to hide it better," she shot back.

"I think you're just a lightweight," Sokka said, grinning as the small earthbender stepped up to him.

"Toph Beifong is not a lightweight!" she snapped. She poked him in the chest, slightly off centre. "I have to use my feet to even be able to see; you have it way easier."

"You think I'm properly drunk, don't you? I'm barely tipsy," Sokka told her, smiling smugly down at her.

"Prove it."

"Easy." Sokka looked around for a bit. The street had emptied somewhat. He walked over to get a better view of his target. He slipped his boomerang out of its sheath and took aim, imagining the curve of the path in his head.

"Of course, you'd go straight for your throwing toy," Toph said as she felt him take his stance.

"Weapon. You're just jealous that I'm better at something than you," Sokka said, then let his weapon fly.

Toph had tried before to figure out the path Sokka's boomerang would take, but quickly realised it was pointless beyond the first couple of feet. It just didn't make any sense to her how to predict it, and yet Sokka was able to do that perfectly every time. She had worked out a better technique. She gave a light tap of her foot as he had thrown it.

 _No way will he make this,_ Toph thought as she focused on the building he had thrown his boomerang at. She knew that two windows were open on the second floor, perpendicular to each other, and could imagine the tight curve the boomerang took, passing right through the building and out the other side.

Sokka took a proud stance, before sauntering over to Toph, who stood with her arms crossed.

"I hate you," Toph said when he hovered his hand just a few inches above her head and smirked down at her.

"You love–" Toph heard the dull thud and Sokka jumped back, hopping up and down on one leg while clutching the shin of the other. Toph laughed as he cursed every spirit that came to his mind.

"Nice job, Snoozles. Aim higher next time and knock some sense into that thick skull of yours," Toph said as he sat down on a small plot of grass along the road.

"I almost feel bad for Combustion Man after hitting him in the head now," Sokka said, rubbing his shin and feeling it beginning to swell. "Nothing feels broken, thankfully." He watched Toph pick up his traitorous boomerang.

"Do you think you could show me how to throw one of these someday?" Toph asked, tossing it up and down.

"I don't see why not, although I may have to do the catching for you." Sokka grinned.

"Great. Honestly, it's probably my favourite of all your little toys," Toph said as she walked over to him.

"Weapons!" Sokka said. He gave her an odd look when she giggled as she handed him back his boomerang. She sat down next to him, pulling her legs close to her. "I actually offered to show Suki how to use it, but never found the time to do it after the war. I thought it would have made a good addition to the Kyoshi Warriors' arsenal."

"Why didn't you just head over to the Fire Nation and teach her there?" Toph asked, breathing heavily to keep herself warm.

"She always seems to be busy with His Royal Highness the Fire Lord." Sokka sneered, Toph feeling the faint beat of his heart get stronger. She stayed quiet for a moment, the conversation she had with Zuko replaying in her mind.

"You couldn't just go over there, anyway?" she suggested, and Sokka looked at her, confused. "Sure, you'd be with Zuko most of the time, but you two would still be spending time together, right?"

"I had planned to do just that, Toph," he said. "She cancelled on me due to some trip she had to go on with Zuko. Apparently he's more important to her than I am." He let out a small sigh as he lay down with his hands behind his head.

"Okay, then why didn't you just go on the trip with them?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why didn't you just do what you did with Satoru and me? You pretty much showed up on the doorstep and decided to come along." Sokka didn't respond for a while.

"I guess I was worried about annoying Suki," he admitted, looking up at the stars. "She always likes things being planned out and in control."

"So you being the planner guy..."

"Exactly. If I had shown up unannounced, she probably would have been happy to see me, for about two seconds. Then she'd get angry at me for messing up her plans. That would just make the visit sour before it even starts. It's not just most of the time with Zuko either. Away from the Fire Nation, she'll be by his side all the time, so I won't really get to have alone time with her." The two sat together in silence for a few seconds, before Sokka gave Toph a light poke in the side. "Plus, you're way more fun to hang out with."

"Thanks," she muttered, a smile on her face as she felt her cheeks warm up. She shifted closer to Sokka and lied down on his arm. A small shiver went down her back. The man continued to stare at the stars, but grinned as he looked down at the blind girl. He slowly began to flex his bicep, and watched Toph's head rise up. He braced himself as he saw her fist pull back, but instead she turned towards him and let her hand fall onto his chest. She shifted even closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder.

 _Toph probably doesn't need her earthbending powers to feel my heart threatening to burst out of my chest. Tui and La help me._ Sokka looked up at the crescent moon. _Yue, mind giving me some advice?_ He decided the safest option, at least for his personal safety, was to simply ignore the cute girl currently cuddling into him. He tried to focus on the stars, looking for constellations, but the little breaths next to his ear were distracting.

 _How is he so warm? It's freezing out here!_ Toph let out a happy sigh, not really caring for the answer. The shiver had come and gone, and now she was simply content to just lie there for the night. She barely took notice of his rapid heartbeat, her mind more focused on being this close against him. She shivered as a breeze blew over them. Sokka's arm wrapped around her, and the feeling of the girly sound that Toph would never make threatened to come out. _Toph Beifong doesn't squeal!_

 _Why did you pull her closer!_ Sokka shouted at himself as Toph's body trembled against his. S _he was cold, why was that bad?_ the other voice in his head shouted back. _Three things you idiot: She's fifteen years old, she's your best friend, and you are in a relationship! Why don't you get out of this situation, head home, and let her go to bed if you're so worried about her being cold?_ Sokka's second voice was quiet now.

Toph's eyes snapped open when she felt Sokka move out from underneath her.

"I think we should probably get back home," he said as he stood up, once more glad that Toph was blind so she couldn't see his red face.

"Can't we just lie here some more? I was comfy." She sat up and looked at him with her best puppy dog eyes.

"We'll freeze to death if we do that." Sokka told her and she raised her arms up at him. He rolled his eyes as he took a hold of each arm and pulled her up. She slipped her arm through his, and they began walking back home. Sokka was used to them walking like this, especially when it was just the two of them having fun together. He had never really thought too much about it. It was just something that they did. However, now he took notice of how much they must have looked like a couple, and the way Toph would lay her head on his shoulder as they walked.

"You had a good birthday, right?" Toph's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "I was just thinking that you might have been homesick being away from the tribe for your birthday."

"It was fine, I guess. Satoru kind of ruined the mood for a while, but overall, it was good," he told her.

"Oh, okay... cool. Glad you had fun."

"Birthdays are a pretty big thing in the South, actually. During the war, because the tribe was so small, a birthday, especially a kid's birthday, would have been a day for the entire tribe." Sokka smiled as he thought back to his own birthdays. "We'd all have a big feast at night. Different families would call to the house of the birthday kid, and give him whatever his gift was, maybe some of the catch of the day, or a specially made tool or weapon." He noticed Toph's head snap upright off his shoulder.

"What about a bone? Like a carved one or something?" she asked him nervously.

"Yeah, you'd see a few carvings. Why?"

Toph stopped and began lightly pulling at her bangs. She entwined her legs together and looked down at the floor. "I kind of forgot to get you a present...so here," Toph said sheepishly as she pulled out a small bone and handed it too him. "This was the bone from Aunt Wu's fortune-telling. It felt cool, and it reminded me of you for some reason. I thought you might like it."

"Thanks, Toph, It's nice." Sokka said as he inspected the bone, looking at the way the cracks went around the heart shape at the top.

"Sorry, I didn't get you a proper present," the earth bender muttered.

"Don't worry about that, I like it," Sokka told her, pocketing the bone and slipping his arm through hers. "I got to mess around with you all day; that's a perfect present." Toph had a slight smile on her face. Sokka felt his face begin to heat up again when he saw Toph's own face going a deep red. She didn't bother to hide it this time, and simply rested her head against his shoulder once more. They strolled all the way back to the house like that.

"I'll talk with Satoru in the morning," Toph told him as they neared their destination.

"Don't hit–" Sokka stopped himself. "Hit him if you want."

"Sounds good." They stepped into the house and Toph led Sokka through the darkness until his eyes adjusted.

"I'll see you in the afternoon," he said when they reached the hallway of their rooms.

"Afternoon?" Toph repeated.

"Trust me, you're not going to want to get up in the morning."

Toph laughed at the warning before standing on her toes and wrapping her arms around Sokka. His eyes went wide as she hugged him. "Happy birthday, Snoozles. Goodnight." Sokka laughed and hugged her back, lifting her off her feet.

"Night, Toph." He set her down, and held in a laugh as he saw her use the wall to keep herself from stumbling. He watched her struggle to open the door, then headed for his own room when after she finally managed to get in. He spotted a shadowy figure looking out from one of the other rooms. It stepped halfway into the hall.

"Sokka, I want to apolo–" Satoru began, but an impact from a hard shoulder as Sokka past made him shut his mouth. He grimaced as he watched Sokka walk into his room, and then went back to his own bed.

Sokka fell into bed, and, within minutes, was snoring.

* * *

Well that was certainly a adorable chapter to write! It's always a joy to simply get to write two your favourite couple just having fun together. The next chapter should hopefully be up next week, and will have Sokka and Satoru... talking it out like adults. :)

I'd like to give an absolute massive thank you to 8D SerenityCrystal Tear 83, or Serenity for being my beta for this chapter. She's not only helped really improve the quality of this chapter, but giving amazing advice on what I can do to improve myself. ^-^

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as always would love to hear your opinion on it so far, or any little comments you may have. Consider following if you'd like to keep up with the story. Thanks for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

Sokka groaned as his eyes fluttered open and the pounding headache came to him. He always hated that downside of drinking. He laid in bed for another few minutes before slowly getting to his feet. He squinted as he looked out to the lashing rain, the grey sky still too bright for his eyes to handle. He began getting dressed, but frozed. His eyes widened.

"She was completely drunk. There's no way she'd remember what happened last night...right?" He quickly said a silent prayer to whatever spirit dealt with memories and finished getting dressed. He stepped into the hallway and glanced into Satoru's empty room as he walked past. "She's probably still asleep. Just act like nothing happened."

He let out a loud yawn and stretched his arms towards the sky as he stepped into the kitchen. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Satoru sitting at the table, writing in his notepad. He let his arms drop and hit noisily against his sides. Satoru glanced up at him and quickly looked back down. Sokka watched him as he walked to the counter before heating up a pot of tea. After a few minutes of silence, Satoru sighed and flicked a couple of pages back.

"Sokka–"

"Don't even speak to me."

Satoru pushed his glasses up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I want to apologise for–"

Sokka turned quickly, slamming his fist onto the table and glaring at Satoru. "I told you to stay quiet!"

Satoru gulped but didn't break eye contact. He calmly raised his palms to Sokka. "We need to talk," he said, keeping careful watch for any sudden movements.

"No, we don't." Sokka turned back around, picking up his cup.

"Yes, we do!" Satoru sat up straighter when the Southern warrior looked back over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow at him. "I don't want to fight; I wouldn't have a hope of winning."

"I know you wouldn't, especially against a savage like me," Sokka spat, and Satoru's face fell.

"Please, just sit down and listen to me." Satoru mumbled, his voice wavering.

"Now you want me to listen to you? What happened to us talking?"

"Sokka, please." He fidgeted under Sokka's gaze as he stood there. Sokka slowly walked over and sat at the table. "Thank you."

"Have you talked to Toph?" he asked, eyeing Satoru suspiciously.

"Yes. She told me to apologise to you and tread very lightly from now on," Satoru said while Sokka looked back to her room. "Apparently, her head was killing her and she was throwing up. She went to the Jasmine Palace to see if Iroh has anything to help." Sokka twisted back around, eyeing Satoru. "First things first, I'm sorry about what I said last night. I was drunk and I know that–"

"I was drunk too, but I didn't go around calling you an ash maker," Sokka cut in. "Even though I have a lot of reasons to still be angry at the Fire Nation."

"You're right, but would you please let me explain?" Sokka gave a slight shrug and motioned for him to continue. "Thank you. I headed straight back here last night to do a bit of thinking," Satoru told him. "Would you agree that you haven't been the most...hospitable person towards me since you joined this trip?" Sokka cocked his eyebrow. "Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm on about."

"So you called me a savage because I've been mean to you?" Sokka said as he leaned forward.

"I never called you a savage."

"You implied it," he shot back. Satoru rubbed his eyes again as he let out a long sigh.

"Fine, yes, I did."

"And now you're suggesting it's my fault for your remarks in the bar?"

"No!" Sokka was beginning to give him a headache worse than any cactus juice could. "However, I do think the way you've treated me certainly...attributed to my outburst." Sokka sat back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Since you joined Toph and I on this trip, I've tried to be nothing but friendly towards you, but for whatever reason, you seem to despise me."

He paused, expecting some quip from Sokka, but he stayed quiet. "At first, I thought you were simply a reserved person, but these past few weeks have shown me different. I don't know if it was a coincidence but you seemed to change from uninterested in being civil to outright hating my guts just before we visited Aunt Wu."

"That's a strong way to phrase it," Sokka noted as he watched Satoru reach into his bag. He frowned when he spread out four cards across the table.

"These are the cards Aunt Wu used to tell my fortune," Satoru told him, scratching the back of his neck and looking away from Sokka. "She let me have them to help me keep an eye out for the fortune."

"You're basing your thoughts on something a fortuneteller told you? I expected too much of you clearly."

"Yes, I am. I didn't know what to make of it at first but what she has told me about these cards is–"

"Extremely vague and can be applied to any situation."

"Will you listen for five minutes?!"

"You're lucky I'm even here." Sokka grinned as Satoru massaged his temples. Once the engineer calmed himself, he flipped the first card on his left.

"The four of diamonds stands for financial upswing; an older person may give advice worth listening to," Satoru said, reading from the notes in his book. "I gave hardly any thought to these until Iroh spoke to me in the Jasmine Dragon, then everything else began to make sense." Satoru glanced up and caught the roll of Sokka's eyes. "No smart comment?"

"Other than you're an idiot for believing this stuff? Nope." Satoru gave a small shake of his head before turning over the second card.

"The Jack of Air stands for a dark-haired youth who is hostile. I immediately thought of you when Aunt Wu first told me this. Although I didn't need a card reading to tell me that you disliked me." Sokka's apathetic look didn't leave his face. "However, it was this third card that made me realise why that's the case."

"This should be good." Sokka raised an eyebrow, shifting forward in his chair, as Satoru flipped over the third card.

"The five waves represents jealousy– more specifically, the jealousy that someone has towards you." Sokka's eyes went wide for a moment before he bared his teeth.

"You think I'm jealous of you?!" he growled. "Why would I be jealous of you? Yes, you're smarter than me, but I've met a lot of people who are, so don't think I'm intimidated by that." He squinted at the nervous engineer. "Maybe you think I'm jealous of the fact that you're from the great Fire Nation, and I'm just a lonely Southern–"

"You're jealous of Toph and I spending time together," Satoru said. "That's it, isn't it?"

Sokka's mouth hung open for a few seconds before he forced out a laugh. "You're delusional!"

"I'm only delusional because I didn't realise it earlier. You obviously see me as some sort of…" Satoru bit his lip, noticing the way Sokka slightly cocked his head, "threat to you and Toph's relationship."

"You...you honestly think I like Toph in that way? She doesn't even like me like that!" Sokka said, uncertainty in his voice. It was Satoru's turn to stare at Sokka.

"You don't think Toph likes you?"

"Of course, she doesn't! We're close friends, sure, but that's it." The events of the night before replayed in the back of Sokka's mind.

"Then you're more blind than she is." Satoru chuckled lightly. "Would you think for second just how close you two are?" His eyebrows shot up when the warrior didn't respond.

Sokka's mind raced with the little things– none of which he had ever given a second thought. The way Toph would grab onto him first if she couldn't see, how she didn't mind hugging him when she would keep most people at arm's length, and their conversation when she and Katara were fighting. He wasn't going to admit it, especially not to Satoru, but it made him happy to realise how strong their bond was.

"I guess she might care more for me than I thought," he admitted. "Don't think that means I'm the same." Satoru smiled at him. "I love Toph, but not in that way," Sokka snapped.

"I see the way you two are together. Why else would you be–" Sokka stood up from the table and began walking away. "So you have no problem with me dating Toph when she turns sixteen next year?" Sokka stopped dead in his tracks.

"You put too much trust in the palms of frauds."

"I'd have thought someone who reads them for a living would need trustworthy palms," Satoru muttered.

Sokka didn't move. He looked down at his hands, and realised he was tracing the very line Aunt Wu had focused so much on. _Love is blind,_ echoed in his mind.

"Assuming I did like Toph, why would you give up someone as amazing as her so easily?" Sokka said, half turning his head towards Satoru, who sighed as he turned over the last card.

"The three waves symbolises a difficult choice in the matter of the heart; an inability to decide who to love."

"You're not about to tell me you're in love with me, right?" Sokka gave a weak grin.

"Nothing of the sort," the engineer said through a small laugh. "The way Toph has spoken about you before makes me certain that my experience with you has so far been an anomaly. I thought I was close with her, but after spending only the past couple weeks with both of you, I've come to realise...I'm not you." He let out a slow sigh. "Toph and I could probably have a great relationship, but I think she would be much happier with you. I'm perfectly fine with simply being a friend of hers and that's not going to change. Personally, I think this is the best for Toph."

Sokka looked at him, his mouth dry.

"Think it over. You'll see I'm right. You should get packing, by the way. We're travelling to the South Pole today."

Sokka licked his lips, but simply gave Satoru a short nod and headed for his room.

* * *

Thanks to NerdyJFics for reading over and helping me with this chapter, and Serenity for the further help!

Well I felt like that talk went quite well; Sokka and Satoru have somewhat made up and no one lost a tooth. I hope you enjoyed finally finding out what Satoru's fortune was and how it eventually tied into the others. There is only two chapters or so left in the story. Planning to have the next chapter up sometime next week.

For those of you who may be wondering about the card suits, I wanted to make them seem a bit more Avatary and thankfully fortune telling with playing cards already have the elements attached to them. You might or might not find it interesting, so here. Hearts – Water - Waves Clubs - Fire - Flames Diamonds – Earth Spades - Air - Winds

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as always would love to hear your opinion on it so far, or any little comments you may have. Consider following if you'd like to keep up with the story. Thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

"I hate wearing boots! I'm practically blind in these stupid things," Toph said while Sokka knelt in front of her.

"You're already blind," Sokka reminded her, tying her laces.

"Shut up. Don't you have any secret Water Tribe method to keep my feet warm?" she spat back.

"Yeah. You're wearing them." He barely dodged Toph's kick when fell away from her. He rolled backwards over his shoulder and stood back up, grinning at his friend. "Those are my thickest pair of socks. There's nothing else I can do if they don't fit you. Why don't you have your own boots?"

"I forgot them," she pouted. She hopped off the chair and the sharp image of Sokka turned to a fuzzy blob in her mind. "I can't see a thing!"

"It'll probably be even worse when there's snow involved," the blob said to her with what she assumed was a shrug. Her fist shot out and Sokka doubled over in pain, holding his stomach.

"I can still make out enough to hit you!" Toph growled, stamping next to his head.

"Good to know," the winded warrior wheezed. He picked himself off the floor and began taking deep breaths. "I'll get Katara to find a proper pair of boots for you. Without those socks, you'll probably be fine." Toph nodded and sat down, lightly tapping her feet on the floor. Sokka turned his head when he heard a pair of voices coming close to them.

"Thank you for the update," Satoru said to the worker before turning and walking towards them. "Any luck?"

"They'll stay on, but she'll walk into a few buildings if nobody keeps an eye on her," Sokka said as he took a big step out of Toph's range.

"That's...good, I suppose. We should be landing in a few minutes. I suggest not going out onto the platform; it's covered in ice."

"You could have warned me about that earlier," Sokka mumbled as he rubbed his elbow.

Satoru laughed lightly as he looked out the window across the barren sheet of snow to the mountains beyond. "This is my first time in either of the Poles. It's breathtaking." He stepped closer to the window.

"Wait until you see the city. Malina has helped transform the South Pole into something that would rival the North's capital," Sokka said, standing next to the engineer. Toph smiled as she listened to the two talk. There was a small bump as they landed and Satoru gestured for them to follow him.

"Agni protect me," Satoru muttered, breathing into his hands when the cold hit him. Sokka grinned like a madman when he felt the crunch of snow underneath his foot. They walked towards the city until Toph shouted at them. They looked back and saw the Blind Bandit with her hands on her hips.

"Did the both of you forget I can't see?!" She held out her hand. Sokka and Satoru both took a step towards her, but stopped and glanced at each other. Satoru took a step back and nodded slightly. Sokka gave an uncertain but thankful smile before trudging through the snow to Toph.

"Was I right?" Sokka asked as he took her hand. She felt her face turning red as he led her back to Satoru.

"Right about what?" she said, lowering her head.

"The snow making your sight worse. How much are you able to see?"

"Well, everything is just one big blob. It's all sort of blending into itself." She felt Sokka's grip tighten. "Except you."

"Huh?" He stopped and looked at her.

"Well, your heart is making vibrations, so I can see you pretty clearly when we're holding hands." Toph pulled her bangs in front of her face. "I mean...just touching in general allows me to see people a lot better," she quickly added.

"Oh..." His own cheeks began to burn, and it was not the first time Sokka was glad that Toph was blind. Satoru grinned at him as they neared.

"Hurry! I can see fire pits in the city. I need to warm up," Satoru told them, rubbing his hands together and setting off for the gates.

"Typical Fire Nation. Can't stand the cold," Sokka said, following after him. As they neared the city gate, two familiar figures ran out. Sokka put his free arm out wide for a hug, but frowned when Katara and Aang stopped and stared at him.

"What's up with..." Katara trailed off, pointing at Sokka and Toph's entwined hands. Sokka's blush deepened and he began stumbling over his words, trying to explain. Katara raised her eyebrow at him.

"I can't see a thing because of these. Do you know where I can get a pair that fit me, Sugar Queen?" Toph asked them, kicking the snow with her boot.

"I'm sure there's some spare child-sized boots around for you, Toph," Aang said with a grin. Toph clenched her fist.

"I'm going to hurt you when I get the chance."

"Before those two destroy the South, it's great to see you again, Satoru," Katara said. The engineer's eyes went wide when Katara hugged him.

"Likewise." He hugged her back and gave Aang a friendly nod. "Would either of you be able to show me to the oil factory? I want to get my work out of the way quickly and enjoy what the South has to offer."

"Sure." Katara said. "Aang, would you take him, I want to talk with Sokka." Sokka's brow creased.

"No problem," Aang said with a shrug. "I'll take Toph too. There's a store where we can pick up some kid-boots along the way." Sokka nearly yelped as Toph's grip became a vice.

"If Twinkle Toes ever sets foot near some earth again, you'll have to go searching for the new Avatar," Toph hissed quietly to Sokka.

"Just try not to break anything while we're gone," he told her, handing her over to Satoru. The group walked into the city before Sokka and Katara split up and strolled down the main street.

"So, was the trip fun?" Katara said, grinning as she watched Sokka wave to people.

"Yeah, it was nice to go travelling again. The South can get kind of dull sometimes," he told her, stopping and looking at a large fountain, its streams frozen.

"You spent an entire year away from home. I'd thought you'd be glad to be back, working alongside Dad." Katara waved her hand, creating a seat for herself on the wall of the fountain.

"Well, going from saving the world to being my dad's assistant isn't exactly how I imagined things turning out." Sokka sighed and sat down next to his sister, slipping backwards and landing on the ice in the fountain. "Ow."

"You're an idiot." Katara chuckled. She grabbed him by his fur collar and pulled him up.

"You could have helped me with your bender magic," Sokka huffed.

"Where's the fun in that?" He rolled his eyes and the siblings sat together for a small while, people giving them polite nods as they passed. Sokka cupped his chin, slowly going over the light stubble with his forefinger.

"You know, I actually missed everyone here on my birthday. It was my first one away from the tribe––although I was with Toph, so I guess it wasn't too bad." Katara turned her head towards him, raising an eyebrow.

"You missed me?" she said, smirking.

"When I said 'everyone', I was excluding you."

"Aww, Sokka missed his sister." She nudged him lightly. He let out a long, slow breath before grinning at her.

"Fine, I missed you." he mumbled, putting his arm over her shoulder and pulling her into him. "Although, I've forgotten why."

"Of course, you have."

"So, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked as Katara slipped out of his hug.

"Huh?"

"You said you wanted to talk to me. I thought it was going to be something serious?" Sokka frowned when she opened her mouth and then closed it again.

"It's nothing," she told him with a shake of her head. He was about to question her when her eyes lit up. "I almost forgot. I have a letter for you." She rummaged through her bag before finding it. "It's from Suki. It arrived a day before your birthday, but I had already sent all the cards by then."

"Thanks for those, by the way," he said as he opened the letter and began reading. He started to bite his lip as he made his way down the letter. "She's back in the Fire Nation and wants to organise a trip to the Royal Caldera for me soon. I'll have to get back to her as fast as I can."

"At least we won't have to deal with the both of you at the house then. I doubt Dad would be happy having you two sneaking around." Katara stood up and smirked back at her brother.

"I don't think sneaking would accurately describe what we'd be doing," he said, smirking as he stood and strode past her.

"Sokka!" Katara rolled her eyes and ran after him, his barking laughter filled the street and made people turn their heads.

 _An Hour Later_

 _Dear Suki,_

 _Sorry for not responding to your last letter. It completely slipped my mind as I was travelling with Toph on Earthern Fire business. I'm delighted to hear your trip went well, although it's a shame for Zuko about that Earth Kingdom girl. I'm free..._

Sokka tapped the end of his brush against his lips as he read over what he had written. That had taken him only two minutes, and yet here he was, ten minutes later, with nothing new on the page.

 _Do I want to continue?_ he wondered as he put his brush down and read over it again. _Do I even want to go see Suki?_ His eyes widened at the idea and quickly pushed it away. He quickly picked up his brush and dipped it in ink. _Why wouldn't I want to go see her?_ It was meant to be a rhetorical question, but Sokka wasn't so sure. He spent another five minutes hovering his brush above the page.

"Stand still so I can hit you, Twinkle Toes!"

"That doesn't sound good," Sokka murmured as he stood up and looked out the window of his room. He couldn't help but laugh when he saw Aang and Toph having a snowball fight. Toph stomped on the ground and a mass of snow launched towards Aang, who narrowly avoided it. "Oh... Toph is throwing rocks at him." His eyes narrowed while he watched them, an idea slowly forming in his head. He walked back to his desk and sat cross-legged. He crumpled up the paper and began work on a new letter.

 _Two Hours Later_

Sokka took a deep, satisfying breath as Malina put the steaming pot of soup in the middle of the circle of food. Hakoda passed around the bowls before looking to Katara, who grinned widely. She turned her palm upwards and slowly began to raise it, bringing the soup up with it. She drew her hand back to her other one before she pushed both outward and splayed her fingers. The floating ball of soup spread into seven streams, which filled each bowl.

"Amazing," Satoru stated, clutching the hot bowl close to his body. "This smells lovely. What is it?"

"Five-flavour soup; a Southern dish. Don't ask what the flavours are," Sokka told him, taking a sip of the soup. "I'm impressed Malina. You got it spot on."

"Thank you. Kanna has been showing me how to cook some of the more traditional Southern foods, although, personally I still prefer the Northern food."

"Is that why there are these giant crab legs here?" Katara said, picking up one of the legs. Malina nodded, a smile on her face, and began passing around the rest of the food. Toph frowned, trying to work out what was on each plate.

"Here," Sokka said, placing a plate of food he gathered in the hands of the blind girl sitting next to him. She smiled at him and quickly dove into her food.

"Satoru, how's that oil factory coming along?" Hakoda asked, dipping his seal jerky into his soup, which still made a crunch when he bit into it.

"It's fine, better than fine actually!" Satoru said. His eyebrows raised in pleasant surprise as he swallowed some seaweed noodles. "Production is up due to the waterbenders coming from the North, and I'm sure it'll only get better once the South produces more of its own waterbenders."

"Malina and I will get to work on that," Hakoda declared, putting his arm around her. He grinned as his wife lightly hit him.

"Dad stop! We're eating!" Katara squeezed her eyes shut, trying to push that image out from her mind.

"That's not going to stop me," Sokka muffled through his food. "Is this polar bear dog?"

"Yep. My own kill on the recent hunt," Hakoda said, leaning over and picking up his spear proudly.

"I wish you wouldn't go out on those hunts. You're the High Chief of the South, you should be more careful," Malina said, shaking her head as her husband spoke more about the hunt.

"It would take more than one of the most dangerous animals in the South Pole to take me down," Hakoda told her, grinning as she glared at him.

"It's a shame you missed the hunt Sokka, although you probably wouldn't have been much help," Aang said as he surveyed the food, careful to take only the vegetarian dishes. Katara covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her laugh.

"Hey! I'm the best boomerang thrower in the South. I'm great at hunting!" he snapped. He glanced over to his father, who gave a small shrug.

"There will be another hunt in a few weeks," Katara said. "You can take over for me at Dad's office to past the time."

"You're just sick of working there already, aren't you?" Sokka said, cocking his eyebrow at her.

"Of course not! I just thought that...you'd like to spend time with Dad," Katara said, her head dropping when everyone laughed.

"Actually..." Sokka began, looking over to Toph. "I had already planned on heading to the Wulong Forest with Toph. I want to try to search for Space Sword and Boomerang." Toph narrowed her eyes as she felt Sokka's heartbeat pick up. She decided to play along; it sounded like fun to her.

"It would beat standing around in a glorified balloon all day," Toph said before taking a piece of meat off of Sokka's plate.

"Don't worry, sweetie, I'll drop by the office and help out," Aang said, putting an arm around the deflated waterbender.

"Oogie," Sokka and Toph said in unison. Katara frowned and pushed the Avatar away.

"I thought you were going to be staying here, then going to see Suki?" Katara stared at her brother, who began to fidget under her gaze.

"I kind of forgot about it when you gave me the letter, but I had planned this out for a while. It would be a shame to just not go," Sokka said, his voice wavering. Toph shifted her head towards him.

 _Why is he lying to Sugar Queen?_ she wondered. _I guess I did tell him I would be willing to go whenever. It would have been nice to have been told about this, though._

"You seemed so annoyed when she cancelled on you, though. I thought you would be ecstatic to finally go see her. How come you don't want to anymore?" Katara pressed, and Sokka could feel everyone else staring at him.

"Well, he's telling the truth about having it all planned out already," Satoru cut in, and Sokka's eyebrows shot up. "I was going to drop them off at the village by so they could get some supplies for the road, then I would continue to our Fire Nation factories while they travel to the Wulong Forest." His and Sokka's eyes met for a few seconds.

"What about Suki then?" Katara said, her frown not leaving her face.

"We've been apart for a while, a couple more weeks won't hurt," Sokka told her. She held his gaze for another few moments.

"Okay." Katara sat back and continued eating her food. Sokka let out a quiet sigh of relief, giving Satoru a nod of thanks.

"Is there any places you guys would suggest I check out while I'm here?" Satoru said, hoping to start-up the conversation again.

"There's an old Fire Nation ship trapped in the ice. It's a bit of a trek, but really fun to explore," Aang told him. "We can go penguin sledding afterwards, too!"

"Penguin sledding?!" Satoru repeated, an excited grin coming to his face, which was quickly replaced by uncertainty. "Isn't that a bit cruel?"

"They don't seem to mind. They just get up and waddle off," Aang said with a shrug.

"Tomorrow's going to be an interesting day," Satoru said, tucking back into his food.

* * *

Thanks again to the amazing Serenity for betaing this chapter!

Hello Everyone! Apologies about this slightly late chapter, hurricane Ophelia hit Ireland and took out my electricity for a couple days. While having no internet to distract me was great for getting some writing done, having no way to charge my laptop wasn't so much of a help.

Well anyway, this was a nice long chapter for you guys, about 3000 words or so. The very last chapter of this story is being planned out as I write this, so we'll see how that goes. I'll explain what will be happening in the next chapter.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as always would love to hear your opinion on it so far, or any little comments you may have. Consider following if you'd like to keep up with the story. Thanks for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

Sokka rummaged through his pack, making sure he had enough clothing for the journey. He slid his sword into it's scabbard and secured it to his waist. He stepped over to his desk, picking up the letter for Suki and reading over it one last time before folding it and putting it into an envelope. He melted the wax over a small fire in his room and sealed the letter with the symbol of a wolf's head.

"Surely a letter from the Chief of the South would get priority over others," Sokka said, smirking as he slipped the letter into his bag and headed downstairs. He slowed to a stop as he entered the kitchen, seeing two small, packed sacks on the table.

"You finally got up," Malina said, sitting close to the main fire while reading construction reports. "I thought Toph was going to have travel alone. Hopefully those help."

"What is all this?" he said, walking over to the sacks and opening them up, finding them full of food.

"I went out this morning and gathered some stuff for you and Toph. I thought it might save you a bit on supplies. It's mostly dried meat, but it should last both of you a while." Malina looked up at him, smiling softly. "Maliq and I lived on this type of stuff when we first left the North. We were always travelling to different towns trying to find work."

"Thank you," Sokka muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Malina, how much did this cost?" He reached into his pocket. She raised an eyebrow and frowned at him.

"Sokka, we're family. You don't need to pay me back. Think of it as a gift for you birthday if it makes it easier," she told him, rolling her eyes and looking back to her reports, hiding her grin.

"Oh..." He stood there for a few moments before he stepped over to Malina and gave her a quick hug. He heard her laughing quietly as he slung the two sacks of food over his shoulders and headed out.

Sokka made his way through the city, getting a few waves and passing nods as he walked by. As he neared the city gates, he spotted Katara and Toph. Toph turned her head slightly to him when he neared, and a moment later Katara looked at him, and her brow furrowed.

"About time, Snoozles. We were planning on sending a search party to rescue you out of bed," Toph said when he reached them.

"Hey! I wasn't sleeping. I actually had some stuff to take care of first."

"Sure, you did, Snoozles. Hurry up. Gears has been ready to leave for a while now. He still has to make his meetings in the Fire Nation." Toph turned and began walking towards the airship. "See ya later, Sugar Queen." Sokka began trudging after her until Katara put a hand on his shoulder.

"He'll be two minutes, Toph. I've got to talk to him for a bit," Katara called to the blind girl, who kept walking.

"Whatever! Just don't be too long," she yelled back.

"You sound annoyed. What did I do this time?" Sokka said, letting out a sigh.

"Why aren't you going to see Suki?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"I'm...I'm travelling with Toph," he said .

"Then why didn't you say that when I gave you the letter? I'd have thought you'd at least mention you weren't going to be staying in the South when you got back."

"I forgot about it. Calm down, Katara." Sokka put his hands up defensively when he saw the small twitch in his sister's eye. A few tense, silent moments passed as she eyed him angrily before responding.

"I was just talking to Toph about what your plan is for this trip, and she hadn't any idea," she said.

"Do you really expect a blind girl to be able to read a map?"

"No. However, you always told us every last detail during the war. I can still picture you droning on and on about your schedule. She would have a slight idea if you even planned a little, which you clearly didn't."

"Just get to your point already," Sokka said. Katara glared at him before letting out a slow breath.

"I'm worried where your head is at. Before you left, all you talked about was wanting to go see Suki again. Now that you're back, all you want to do is spend time with Toph." He frowned, beginning to understand what she was saying.

"What's the problem with that? We're friends."

"Toph told me you two went out drinking on your birthday." Sokka gave a short nod, caught off guard by the sudden change of topic. "Did anything––"

"Nothing happened between us! Don't you dare even imply that," he warned, his eyes flaring. Katara's own eyes widened and she took a step back. She bit her lip as she returned to her normal stance.

"Why are you travelling with Toph?"

"She wants to help me search for Space Sword and Boomerang, that's it," he said curtly. "Plus, I won't have to listen to someone nagging me every hour."

"For Tui and La's sake," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "You don't think Suki will be hurt that you're putting your old weapons before your girlfriend?"

"If that's the case, then she must consider Zuko much more important than me. You're grasping at straws, little sister." Katara's eyes narrowed as things started to make sense in her mind.

"You just want to get back at Suki!"

"Suki has nothing to do with why I'm going!"

"Then why––" She stopped talking when Sokka turned and headed for the airship.

"I'm done talking with you. I'll see you in a couple of weeks, if I come back," he called back to her, changing from a walk to a light jog. Katara raised her hand and concentrated on the snow around her brother's feet, but dropped it.

"I'm going to force him to speak to Suki when he gets back!" Katara growled as she stormed back into the city.

 _A Couple Days Later_

Toph barged into Sokka's room. "Gears told me we're landing soon," she said. "You have everything packed, right, Meathead?"

"Will you ever learn to knock?" Sokka asked. A small shrug was all he got in response. "Take this." He picked up two bags and handed one to Toph.

"Why are you giving me this exactly?" she asked, letting the bag drop to the floor.

"You can't possibly expect me to carry all of our gear. When we get what we need in Makapu Village, I'll sort out who gets what." He strapped his sword to his side.

"Why can't you carry it? Aren't you the big, strong man?" She lightly tugged at one of the straps of the bag.

"Oh, so you're the small, fragile little girl when it benefits you?" he asked, a smile on his lips.

"Fine," she whined, picking up the bag and slinging it across her shoulders. "I hate this part of travelling. Why couldn't we take Appa?"

"Aang's busy with some spirit nonsense; some giant monster is attacking caravans along the trade routes or something. I doubt he would appreciate us stealing his bison. You remember the last time someone did that?" Sokka immediately regretted his choice of words when he saw Toph clench her fists.

"Yeah. I do." The two stayed quiet while Sokka double checked the gear. Toph was lying on the southern warrior's bed, daydreaming, when a bump interrupted her thoughts.

"Come on, let's get going. If we make good time, we can be out of Makapu before nightfall," Sokka said, grabbing her forearm and helping her out of the bed.

"I can't wait to walk for hours on end and sleep on the cold wet floor!" Toph said excitedly, following after him. "Not." Satoru was already waiting outside for them, staring up at the sky.

"Of all the times you decide to go travelling, you pick the beginning of winter," Satoru said as they stepped beside him.

"A bit of rain and cold winds never stopped us. We'll be fine," Sokka said, shrugging at the grey clouds passing overhead.

"That's because Aang and Katara used to keep us dry when we were travelling on Appa," Toph said dryly. "Now we get to sit in a tent all day if it gets too heavy."

"Oh, no, you'll learn what it's like for us normal people to go off adventuring." Satoru smirked down at Toph.

"Don't you own a giant balloon that bring you places?" she shot back.

"I was a beggar for months. I know what it's like to live on the streets, unlike you, Miss Beifong." Satoru grinned when he saw Toph roll her eyes, and opened his arms wide. She smiled as he wrapped his arms around her. "I'll see you soon, Toph. Don't annoy Sokka too much," he whispered to her, making her laugh.

"I'm not promising you anything," she said, turning and walking towards the forest.

"Hang on a minute Toph," Sokka called. She stopped and stood there, arms crossed and foot lightly tapping the floor. Sokka turned and stepped closer to Satoru. "I want to say thanks for saving me back in the South. I doubt Katara would have let it slide so easily if you hadn't spoken up during dinner," he said quietly.

"No problem at all. I could tell you were struggling to come up with something. I hope everything goes well on this little adventure," Satoru said, smiling as Sokka glanced over to Toph.

"Honestly...while finding Space Sword and Boomerang would be great, I'm hoping this helps me answer a couple of questions." Sokka let out a sigh. "I just want to know if––"

"Will you hurry up!" Toph shouted at him.

"I should get going, or she'll end up hurting the both of us," Sokka said, grinning at Satoru. His eyebrows shot up and he dug into his bag. "I almost forgot! When you get to the Fire Nation, can you send this letter to Suki? Tell them it's for the chief bodyguard of the Fire Lord. It should get to her pretty quickly then."

"No problem. I'll be travelling to Fire Fountain City; they'll certainly have a place where I can send it," Satoru told him, taking the letter and putting it in his back pocket. Satoru looked over to Toph, who had begun dragging her feet along the earth, creating random grooves as she went. He heard a slight cough and looked back into the deep blue eyes of the southern warrior. He noticed the nervous excitement in them, and the hand held out to him. He reached for the hand, and Sokka grabbed him by the forearm, pulling him into a hug.

"Thanks, Satoru," Sokka said as he embraced the stunned engineer, "for everything." Sokka let go and stepped back, grinning as he realised Toph was staring at them. "That girl sees everything." He glanced at the still shocked Satoru, and gave him a small nod as he began walking towards Toph.

 _If it doesn't work out, you can still try and have a relationship with her,_ a voice in the back of the engineer's head suggested.

 _If?_ a second voice spoke up. _I don't think that word applies to those two._ Satoru stood there, watching the two of them stroll into the forest.

* * *

Well it's the last chapter for Three's Company and Sokka, Toph and Satoru's time together has come to an end. However, this clearly isn't the end to the Tokka story, and we'll see what happens between them in some time. Before explaining the current plan for the series, I'd like to thank you all for reading this story, and for the many people who've favourited, followed and took time out of their day to review it, even if it's just a couple words. It's always lovely to see those emails coming in.

Three people I'd like to thank personally: secondstart - You're one of those consistent reviewers that pretty much every writer loves to have, I always looked forward to hearing you opinion on chapters.

8D SerenityCrystal Tear 83 - My beta for a couple of chapters near the end. Incredibly helpful, thorough and in my opinion has helped improve the quality of my writing hugely.

Last but not certainly not least - Nerdy J Fics Some people might find it weird to do these personal thank yous, however this girl right here is the main reason for this. She had been there before I had even written Unintentional Dating, and has helped right throughout the story. She is, in my opinion, the most kind, funny and all around amazing person you'll meet on any site, be it FF, AO3 or DA. I don't necessarily think she'd agree, but she's been instrumental in Three's Company. Having someone you're able to bounce ideas all the time is someone every writer needs. She's also a fantastic writer, and I'd suggest everyone go check out her stuff, especially if you're a fan of Zutara. Sadly she has left for an unknown amount of time, so I wanted to do a large thank you here, as a sort of welcome back message for when she returns.

Enough of the oogie stuff! So what's next for my little series? Apologies to the Tokka fans, but this side of the story will be put on hold for a while. My current plan is to go all the way back to chapter one of this story, but this time follow Zuko and Suki. Those of you who read their part of Unintentional Dating, and remember what Sokka wrote to Suki may be able to work out what the general story is going to be about. I'm not 100% certain on the title of the story, however I'm leaning towards "An Old Flame". There's also a second story in the works for Zuki, although I could have that be part of An Old Flame if I don't think there is enough to warrant a full story. It would more than likely be a relatively short story, but would occur on the trip after An Old Flame. When I finish those, I'll be straight back to the Tokka side of things. I already have some ideas, mainly cute/fun scenes involving Sokka and Toph travelling together.  
I hope that isn't too disappointing for some, and that you can still enjoy the Zuki stuff even if you aren't a fan of the couple. I'm currently planning out the general plot of the whole story. I'm not sure when that'll be done and when writing will begin. The first chapter could be uploaded next week, or it could be in two or three. When I do upload, I'll try to stick to this Thursday/Friday upload schedule I've fallen into, so check back on those days to see if the story has been started or not. Or consider following me on FFN, DA or AO3.

I hope you enjoyed this story, and as always would love to hear what you thought, or any little comments you may have. Thank you all for keeping up with and reading this, and I hope to be able to post more soon!


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